Silvertown Blues

(album: Sailing To Philadelphia - 2000)

On Silvertown way, the cranes stand high
Quiet and gray against the still of the sky
They won't quit and lay down though the action has died
They watch the new game in town on the Blackwall side

From the poisonous drains a vision appears
A new circle of cranes, a new reason to be here
A big silver dome rising up into the dawn
Above the church and the homes where all the silver is gone

If I'd a bucket of gold, what would I do
I'd leave the story untold Silvertown blues
Going down in Silvertown, down in Silvertown
Going down in Silvertown, down in Silvertown

A silver dawn steals over the docks
A truck with no wheels up on cinderblocks
Men with no dreams around the fire in a drum
Scrap metal schemes rusted over and done

If I'd a bucket of gold, silver would do
I'd leave the story untold Silvertown blues
And I'm going down in Silvertown, down in Silvertown
Going down in Silvertown, down in Silvertown

When you're standing on thin and dangerous ice
You can knock and walk in for citizens' advice
They'll tell you where you can turn, where you can go
There's nothing they can tell me I don't already know

If I'd a bucket of gold, silver would do
Leave the story untold Silvertown blues
And I'm going down in Silvertown, down in Silvertown
I'm going down in Silvertown, down in Silvertown

From the Canning Town train I saw a billboard high
There's a big silver plane rising up into the sky
I can make out the words seven flights every day
Says six of those birds are bound for JFK

If I'd a bucket of gold, silver would do
Leave the story untold Silvertown blues
And I'm going down Silvertown, down in Silvertown
I'm going down in Silvertown, down in Silvertown

Going down Silvertown, down in Silvertown
I'm going down in Silvertown, down in Silvertown
Down in Silvertown