Dirty Old Town - Ewan MacColl - Strum Along Lesson - Jez Quayle

This great Ewan MacColl song is presented with the full lyrics, chords and a suggested strumming pattern, so you can play or sing along with me and learn how to perform this classic tune.
A song sheet containing the lyrics and chords can be viewed or downloaded from my songbook blog here: jezquaylesongb....
The version of 'Dirty Old Town' I play here is a cross between the ways The Spinners and The Dubliners played it. I first got to know this one back in the mid 1970s when I heard it on an LP by the Liverpool folk group, The Spinners. I've since got to know other great versions, such as those by The Dubliners, The Pogues, and of course, Ewan MacColl's original version. The lyrics refer to locations in and around Salford (then in Lancashire, now in Greater Manchester), the town where MacColl (real name Jimmy Miller) was born and brought up. Salford is no longer such a 'dirty old town', by the way.

[@backgardenbusker7206]

Wonderful, crediting the person who wrote it and singing the words that he wrote.

[@JezsAcousticGuitarSongbook]

Thanks very much!

[@paulbanner9612]

Always a good one at a festival 👍👍😊

[@JezsAcousticGuitarSongbook]

Yes! 👍

[@andrewmoore193]

Thank you for the lesson😊

[@smilertiler1]

Been looking at tutorials for this tune today. This isn't just a great guitar lesson, it's also a great lesson in how sing the song.
Great work. Thank you

[@JezsAcousticGuitarSongbook]

Thanks very much!

[@11thephoenixrises11]

I say this my Mother's tongue when I say, 'Good On'a MacColl, not bad at all!'

[@Roomer645]

On top of my list to learn. Used to playing bass and never have done anything with chords so i will have fun with my first acoustic guitar. Thank you vermuch indeed !

[@timomarra3315]

I just found your 2 channels -Goldmine!!!

[@JezsAcousticGuitarSongbook]

Hi Tim. Glad you like 'em!

[@LawrieFWhite]

Great work Jez,
Strumming pattern can make all the difference - so nice of you to share your considerable talent 🙏💕

[@JezsAcousticGuitarSongbook]

Thanks very much Lawrie! I decided to keep the suggested strumming patterns simple on these recent 'play-along' videos, rather than describing the bass strumming pattern I might use sometimes on these songs.
This feels like it should be an easy song to sing, but I find it tough to be honest. Some of those vowel sounds (in words like 'lo------ve', 'gi------rl' and dri-----fting) are hard to hold on those longer notes. It's funny how to many this has become an 'Irish folk song', when it was written by an Englishman about an English town, to fill an interlude in a play. You even get Englishmen putting on an Irish accent when they sing it!

[@LawrieFWhite]

You are so right about it not being easy to sing- those long high notes in the second line of the verse are very difficult.
I’ve just gone through your lesson to get those covered & sort out a good breath at end of first line. You’ve saved my baco because I’ve got to sing it in our folk band this week, ironically for a St Paddy’s gig 🤣
Thank you for it 😳

[@LawrieFWhite]

That strumming graphic is the gold standard 😃

[@JezsAcousticGuitarSongbook]

The chords people play with this vary a little between different versions, which can make it tricky when playing along with other people who are familiar with a different version to yours. St. Paddy's gig ...hehehe. Be sure to point out at your gig that this song is about Salford, ...which is in the North of England, near Manchester. My favourite Irish song is Waltzing Matilda! 🤣

[@JezsAcousticGuitarSongbook]

Have you heard this original version by Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger?
th-cam.com/video/baFIaOGkN90/w-d-xo.html
A little bluesy and not a hint of Irishness.

[@elisabethminet4676]

Yes 👍🎸😊

[@predragsinko2513]

Briliant

[@JezsAcousticGuitarSongbook]

Thanks very much!

[@kaycarley]

Liking this concept Jez. Graphics are fab. I strummed and finger picked along with you to this one. 😁

[@JezsAcousticGuitarSongbook]

Thanks very much Kay! Glad you like 'em. Ideal if you don't feel like singing (yet). :D

[@kaycarley]

@@JezsAcousticGuitarSongbook - ha ha ha........nice try!! I thought you’d finally accepted that no one wants to listen to me caterwaulin’! Although I must confess that I may have succumbed to a bit of humming 😱

[@JezsAcousticGuitarSongbook]

Humming's a good start. 😁

[@kaycarley]

@@JezsAcousticGuitarSongbook its a marvellous finishing point too! 😆

[@poeticjustice905]

Thanks for the video. Very helpful and one of my favourite songs. You used capo on 2nd, but your song sheet same chords shows capo 3rd fret. FYI. Cheers.

[@JezsAcousticGuitarSongbook]

Thanks very much. I vary the key I play this song in depending on how my voice is feeling. Hence, the differing capo placings. There’s no ‘correct’ key. Try experimenting with different capo placings if you find the high or low notes in this song aren’t comfortable.

[@pkbk63]

Great!!Thanks!! But in PDF Capo Traste ist in 3° but here (on video) ist in Second frente Wich ist correct? Thanks

[@JezsAcousticGuitarSongbook]

Thanks very much! There is no 'correct', as there can be in classical music. The beauty of folk music is that you can do it your own way. Choose the key (capo position) that best suits your singing range. I vary with this song depending on how my voice is feeling.

[@seanclark2085]

Its an old Dutch tree ...

[@JezsAcousticGuitarSongbook]

Eh??

[@seanclark2085]

I believe the lyric is” I’ll chop you down like an old Dutch tree”

[@JezsAcousticGuitarSongbook]

@@seanclark2085 Here are original versions by Ewan McColl (the songwriter) and Ewan McColl and Peggy Seeger: th-cam.com/video/c2PinDmjFxs/w-d-xo.html
th-cam.com/video/HusJQlsn_2M/w-d-xo.html
As you'll hear, it's definitely 'dead'.

[@seanclark2085]

It certainly does, I grew up with that song , and it was ( erroneously) Dutch Tree .
Thanks for putting me right and thanks for posting the original 🙏🏽

[@JezsAcousticGuitarSongbook]

@@seanclark2085 No problem. I wonder where that ‘Dutch’ came from?