Down by the Nine Locks

Music and Words by Brian Langtry

Down by the 9 locks we strolled hand in hand
I kissed you so fondly as you turned around
And a breeze from the pithead blew dust in your eye
The fire from the furnace fair burned in the sky

And love is the treasure so long we’ve enjoyed
And my heart never tires of the moments we shared
The months have a habit of turning to years
Moments enhanced by the shedding of tears.

Aye and down by the 9 locks.............................

Though all these fond years as pastures have lain
Sure I know that this landscape could ne’re stay the same
And where once the proud steelworks now all that remains
Are the memories the like of we’ll ne’re see again.

Aye and down by the 9 locks................................

Down by the Nine Locks’ was written in 1979 and was featured on the Giggetty Album “The Collection” released on cassette in 1987.
This rerecording will be included on the forthcoming album “The Song of the Mines” by Brian Langtry and ‘The Zouch Boys’ which will be available via www.bandedtogether.co.uk from March 2011.
The title of the song is taken from the series of 9 locks in Brierley Hill West Midlands. This Black Country canal way was used principally for the transportation of coal, iron and steel from the smoke billowing chimneys of the industrialised Black Country. The view from the top lock is stunning to this day but one can only dream of the long gone sight of night time furnaces and skies ‘all a blether’ (courtesy of Black Country poet Jim Wm. Jones) with gaseous colours.