I met my love by the steelworks gate
Those were days of the bygone date
The mill is dead, hightech is now great
Dirty old town
Dirty old town

No more smoke to fade the moon
No more noise of steam hammer boom
In springtime all the trees now bloom
Dirty old town
Dirty old town

I still see furnace climbing high in sky
Cowper stoves slowly rust and die
The mill is still, I just want to cry
Dirty old town
Dirty old town

The bits are streaming on the broadband line
Neon lights set the night on fire
The business parks give the town new life
Dirty old town
Dirty old town

I see a sapling of a young, green ash
On the ground which was black of ash
The life will win, though the steel did crash
Dirty old town
Dirty old town

I'm going to code me a neat, new tool
Write in C, pointers can't me fool
Where steel was hot, now the tech is cool
Dirty old town
Dirty old town

I met my love by the steelworks gate
Those were days of the bygone date
The mill is dead, hightech is now great
Dirty old town
Dirty old town
Dirty old town
- it's clean and new now!