Shipyard (feat. Jimmy Nail, Brian Johnson & Jo Lawry)

Ah, my name is Jackie White and I'm foreman of the yard

And you don't mess with Jackie on this quayside

Why I'm as hard as iron plate, woe betide you if you're late

When we have to push the boat out on a spring tide

Now you could die and hope for Heaven, but you'd need to work your shift

And I'd expect you all to back us to the hilt

And if St. Peter at his gate were to ask you why you're late

Why you'd tell him that you had to get a ship built

We built battleships and cruisers for Her Majesty the Queen

Super tankers for Onassis, and all the classes in between

We built the greatest shipping tonnage that the world has ever seen

And the only life we've known is in the shipyard

All the platters and the welders, and the boiler making crews

When they see that bugger finished on the slipway

All the hardship's soon forgot and we'll cheer as like as not

And the bairns will wave their Union Jacks all day

It's a patriotic scene, all that's missing is the Queen

But she said she couldn't make it of a Tuesday

Then something wells up here inside, and you could take it in your stride

But you wonder if you'll see another payday

For there's a mixture of emotions, hatred, gratitude and pride

And you hate yourself for crying but it's difficult to hide

For there's a sadness in the leaving and you worry what's ahead

And that worry never leaves you, keeps on nagging in your head

And so you pray to God for orders, but you'll worry until you're dead

Until they bury your remains in the blacksmith's shed

Steel in the stockyard

Iron in the soul

We'll conjure up a ship where there used to be a hole

And I don't know what we'll do if this yard gets sold