Written for the soundtrack of D Bytheway's upcoming video about Alloa.
songwriter
acoustic
traditional
scottish
irish
scotland
edinburgh
banjo
ireland
folk music
boness
Creative Commons license
Commercial uses of this track are NOT allowed
Adaptations of this track are NOT allowed to be shared
You must attribute the work in the manner specified by the artist
Story behind the song
David Bytheway asked me to write it for a video heis working on. It's about Alloa's industrial past. The instrumental parts are there to give David a chance to fade in and out to suit the narrative and the visuals.
Lyrics
In the Forefront
Alloa, you were always in the forefront,
Your ventures, your trade, your worth cant be denied.
Hard working men all down through the years
Thankful for the living youd provide.
Theyve breathed in your coaldust in a four foot seam,
Hundreds of feet below the ground.
Took the juice from the barley at the Cambus still,
Coopered barrels with iron bands around.
Your water made your ales famed the world around.
The brewers craft was always to the fore
The names long gone now Youngers and McLays
Caponcroft, Forthbank, Arrols, Mills and Shore.
You powered Patons mill to spin and dye the wool.
And the spinsters and the dyers got their trades.
The Hillfoots weavers busy at their looms
Driven by the Ochils great cascades.
Your potters they formed and then they fired the clay
For the Gardeners and the Baileys at Kirkgate.
The Plough and the Fame were built there in your yards
At Forthbank manys the keel was laid.
They found employment by your busy docks,
Loading big ships with woollens, glass and ale.
Ships came and went with the turning of the tide,
Holds groaning full and off to sea theyd sail.
Their skill at the glassworks, foremost in the world,
And has been for at least 200 years.
The giant bottle furnace, manned both night and day,
Stamps out bottles for the whisky and the beer.
Alloa, you were always in the forefront,
Your ventures, your trade, your worth cant be denied.
Hard working men all down through the years
Thankful for the living youd provide.