Blaydon Races - David Haslam/Sir Thomas Allen/Royal Northern Sinfonia/Chorus/Sheila Armstrong

I went to blaydon races

Twas on the ninth of june

Eighteen hundred and sixty two

On a summer's afternoon

I took the bus from balmbras

And she was heavy laden

Away we went along collingwood street

That's on the road to blaydon

Oh lads you should've seen us ganning

Passing the folks along the road

Just say they were starin'

All the lads and lasses there

They all had smiling faces

Ganning along the scotswood road

To see the blaydon races

We flew past armstrong's factory

And up by the robin adair

Just ganning ower the railway bridge

The bus wheel flew off there

The lasses lost their crinolenes

And veils that hide their faces

I got two black eyes and a broken nose

In ganning to blaydon races

Oh lads you should've seen us ganning

Passing the folks along the road

Just say they were starin'

All the lads and lasses there

They all had smiling faces

Ganning along the scotswood road

To see the blaydon races

When we got the wheel back on

Away we went again

But them that had their noses broke

They came back ower hyem

Some went to the dispensary

And some to doctor gibbses

And some to the infirmary

To mend their broken ribses

Oh lads you should've seen us ganning

Passing the folks along the road

Just say they were starin'

All the lads and lasses there

They all had smiling faces

Ganning along the scotswood road

To see the blaydon races

Now when we got to paradise

There were bonny games begun

There were four and twenty on the bus

And how we danced and sung

They called on me to sing a song

So I sang 'em 'paddy fagan'

I danced a jig and I swung me twig

The day I went to blaydon

Oh lads you should've seen us ganning

Passing the folks along the road

Just say they were starin'

All the lads and lasses there

They all had smiling faces

Ganning along the scotswood road

To see the blaydon races

We flew across the tyne bridge

Bring it to blaydon toon

The barman he was calling then

They called him jackie broon

I saw him talking to some chaps

And them he was persuadin'

To gan and see geordie ridley's show

At the mechanics' hall in blaydon

Oh lads you should've seen us ganning

Passing the folks along the road

Just say they were starin'

All the lads and lasses there

They all had smiling faces

Ganning along the scotswood road

To see the blaydon races

The rain it poured down all the day

And made the ground quite muddy

Coffee johnny had a white hat on

Shouted 'wee stole the cuddy'

There were spice stalls and monkey shows

And old wives selling ciders

And the chap on the ha'penny roundabout

Saying 'any more lads for riders

Oh lads you should've seen us ganning

Passing the folks along the road

Just say they were starin'

All the lads and lasses there

They all had smiling faces

Ganning along the scotswood road

To see the blaydon races