Words and music by jimmy nail



Walking on cobble stone, little bits of skin and bone

Jumping on the tram car for a ride

I can remember then, i was just a boy of ten

Hanging out along the old quayside

Not all the capstans and the cargo boats

And stevadores are gone

To where all the old ships go

But memories just like the seas live on



That was when coal was king,

The river a living thing

And i was just a boy, but it was mine,

The coaly tyne



This was a big river,

I want you all to know that i was proud

This was a big river, but that was long ago,

That's not now, that's not now



My fther was a working man,

He earned our living with his hands

He had to cross the river every day

He picked up a union card out of the neptune yard

Mouths to feed and the bills to pay

Then came a time for him to sail across the sea

And far away

Finally when the war was won

You brought him home and home he stayed



And when his days were done, under a golden sun

You carried him to where he longed to be,

Back to the sea



This was a big river,

I want you all to know that i was proud

This was a big river, but that was long ago,

That's not now



The neptune was the last to go,

I heard it on my radio

And then they played the latest number one

But what do they do all day?

And what are they supposed to say?

What does a father tell his son?

If you you believed that there's a bond between our future

And our past

Then try to hold on to what we had,

We build them strong, we built to last



'cause this is a mighty town,

It's built upon solid ground

And everything they tried so hard to kill,

We will rebuild



Thi