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The Shipyard Apprentice / The Fairfield Crane

[ Roud - ; DT FAIRCRAN ; Mudcat 57716 ; Archie Fisher, Norman Buchan, Bobby Campbell]

Ray Fisher sang her brother Archie’s song The Shipyard Apprentice in 1972 on her Trailer album The Bonny Birdy.

A recording of Barbara Dickson singing The Shipyard Apprentice live in between 1969 and 1973 was included in 2013 on her folk club album B4 Seventy-Four.

Battlefield Band sang Shipyard Apprentice in 1977 on their eponymous Topic album Battlefield Band. This track was also included in 1993 on their Topic compilation CD Opening Moves, in 1996 on the Topic anthology The Voice of Folk, and in 2016 on their Temple anthology The Producer’s Choice. They noted:

Jamie [McMenemy] sings this fine song which was written by Archie Fisher, Norman Buchan and Bobby Campbell, originally for a radio programme for school leavers. It expresses the thoughts and feelings of a Clydeside shipyard worker who has grown up through the Forties and Fifties.

Pat Ryan sang Shipyard Apprentice in 1977 on her Folk Heritage album Leaboy’s Lassie.

The Easy Club sang The Song of the Clyde / The Shipyard Apprentice on their 1987 album Skirlie Beat.

Archie Fisher sang Yonder Banks / The Shipyard Apprentice in 1988 on his Snow Goose / Greentrax album Sunsets I’ve Galloped Into…. This track was also included in 1989 on the Greentrax / Celtic Connections anthology Music & Song of Scotland. Archie Fisher noted:

Yonder Banks: Graham Miles poignant song of his childhood in the Northeast of England segues into The Shipyard Apprentice with a melody by Bobby Campbell which tells of the struggle and eventual decline of the shipbuilding industry on the River Clyde since World War II.

Ed Miller sang The Shipyard Apprentice in 1989 on his Folk-Legacy album of old and new songs of Scotland, Border Background. He noted:

A song written in the early 1960’s by Archie Fisher [and Norman Buchan], with a melody by Bobby Campbell, and which I first learned from Rod Sinclair, an old friend from University days in Edinburgh now resident in Denmark.

It’s a song of a 1940’s and 50’s childhood in a very different environment from that which I knew in the east of Scotland in that it is from the industrial, shipbuilding area of Clydeside in Glasgow, an area that suffered German bombing attacks during the Second World War and has since been an area of fluctuating employment, industrial decline and vehement opposition to Conservative government policies.

Alistair Russell sang The Shipyard Apprentice on his 2002 album A19. He noted:

My parents grew up on Clydeside a little before the era portrayed in this song. But the images here tally with my childhood memories of Glasgow. A timeless classic and decidedly “Old Labour”!

Ross Kennedy sang The Shipyard Apprentice in 2007 on his Greentrax album Scottish Voice and Acoustic Guitar. He noted:

This song is dear to my heart as I was born and brought up in the shipbuilding town of Clydebank. I first heard Jamie McMenemy and later Arthur Johnstone sing this beautiful ballad that describes the hardships ordinary people faced in their day to day lives.

Malinky sang The Shipyard Apprentice in 2008 on their Greentrax album Flower & Iron. They noted:

The Fairfield crane at the Govan shipyard on the Clyde in Glasgow was built in 1911, at that time the largest crane in the world. It was a powerful symbol of Scottish shipbuilding and engineering until it was demolished in 2007.

The song concerns the hardships on Clydeside after the Second World War, and the local folk’s dependence on the Clyde’s industries. Also known as The Fairfield Crane, the song was written in the mid-1960s for a BBC radio series called ‘Landmarks’, jointly with MP and folksong enthusiast Norman Buchan, with a tune by Glasgow fiddler Bobby Campbell, although none of Norman’s verses are in this version as far as we know.

The Unthanks sang Fairfield Crane on their 2012 album Songs From the Shipyards (Diversions Vol. 3).

Fraser Bruce, Ian Bruce, Pete Clark and Gregor Lowrey sang The Fairfield Crane (The Shipyard Apprentice) on their 2017 album Auld Hat New Heids.

Northern Light sang The Shipyard Apprentice in 2919 on their Liekedeler album Off It Goes. They noted:

Life was hard at the shipyards of River Clyde, and you wouldn’t dare to mess with the men working there. A Scottish song married with a tune by Franziska [Müller].

Lyrics

Archie Fisher sings The Shipyard Apprentice

And I was born in the shadow of a Fairfield Crane,
And the blast of a freighter’s horn
Was the very first sound that reached my ears
On the morning I was born.
I lay and I listened to the shipyard sounds
Coming out of the great unknown,
And was sung to sleep by the ‘mother tongue’
That was to be my own.

But before I grew to one year old
I heard the sirens scream;
As a city watched in the blacked-out night,
A wandering searchlight beam.
And then at last I awoke and rose
To my first day of peace,
But I’ve learned the battle to stay alive
Was never going to cease.

I sat and I listened to my father tell
Of the days that he once knew,
When you either sweated for a measly wage,
Or you joined ‘The Parish’ queue.
As times grew harder day by day
Along the riverside,
I oftimes heard my mother say,
“It was tears that made the Clyde.”

I’ve sat in the school frae nine to four,
And I’ve dreamed of the world outside,
Where the riveters and the platers watch
Their ships slip to the Clyde.
I’ve served my time behind shipyard gates,
And I sometimes mourn my lot;
But if any man tries to mess me about,
I’ll fight like my father fought.

Ed Miller sang The Shipyard Apprentice

I was born in the shadow of a Fairfield’s crane,
And the blast from a freighter’s horn
Was the very first sound that I ever heard
On the morning I was born.
As I lay and I listened to those shipyard sounds
Coming out of the unknown,
I was lulled to sleep by the mother tongue
That was to be my own.

And before I grew to one year old,
I heard the siren’s scream
As a city under the blackout
Watched the wandering searchlight beam.
Then one morning I arose
To my first day of peace,
But I learned that the battle to stay alive
Was never going to cease.

And I lay and I listened to my father’s tales
Of the days that he once knew
Where you worked all day for a pittance of a pay
Or you joined the Parish queue.
And times grew harder, day by day,
Along the riverside.
It’s ofttimes I’ve heard my mother say
“It was tears that made the Clyde.”

And I sat in the schoolroom from nine to four
And dreamed of the world outside
Where the riveters and the platers
Watch their ships slip to the Clyde.
And the builder places stone on stone
And watches his labours grow;
The time will come for me to be
In the world I long to know.

And come that day when they set me free,
I’ll be living like a man,
Wi’ my first day’s wages in my pooch
In the shadow o’ the crane.
And the oil and grease will stain my skin,
Forever on my hands,
Just a living sight for all to see
That I’ve become a man.

For I’ve spent my time behind shipyard gates
And I’ve ofttimes bore my lot,
And if anyone tries to mess me about,
Well, I’ll fight like my father fought.