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lyrics

My Grandad's sister Ida
With Sylvia beside her
Slams the door behind her
And mumbles something
They march off down the terrace
Sylvia's getting jealous
The Maplin sisters skipping
Chanting Charlie Chaplin
Molly beats time with a hat pin
On a tin
They're leaving Gwendoline

On Mayfield Street the shadows
Drape from open windows
Ida fears the setting sun
Feels it like a loaded gun
To her imagination
But she's banished the sensation
For the smell of boiling cabbage
As starving strays they ravage through a bin
They're leaving Gwendoline

Ida's calming down
She thinks she maybe went to town
She knows that she was right
But she shouldn't have picked a fight
And for a second thinks
Of turning back and saying sorry
But now they're in a hurry
The fight has made them late
So making up can wait
And it's a rushed hello
To Mrs Storrey
Calling her kids in
They're leaving Gwendoline.

At Cranbourne on the corner
They run into Billy Horner
Kicking round a can
Trying to stay clear of his Mam
His purple ringworm head
Always the last kid in to bed
She's never ever said
But Sylvia really likes him
Ida's speeding up
How well she knows that look
Not a single word is spoken
But she knows the lad is broken
And there'll be no mending him
They're leaving Gwendoline

Turning right again they see
Number 83
A. L. B....
Sylvia spells out Albany
Nan's there at the door
Saying sorry for before
And kitty cat was naughty
Bringing living mice in.
Come in out the gloom,
You can lick the pudding spoon.
Mam sent Gwen up to her room
Well you can help me weigh the rice in
From the tin.

They're leaving Gwendoline.
The evening flows from there
To talk of Sylvia's hair
Now she's sleeping in a chair
By the blackout curtains
The cat comes in at nine
No gift for Nan this time
Just a bleeding paw and whine
To let her know it's hurting.
The air raid sirens wail
And it's raining metal hail
The cat is turning tail
Before the first explosion
As the searchlights search in vain
Death falls from a plane
And parachutes to earth in its
Mundane devotion
There's a blinding flash of light
That hollows out the night
And crater marks the site
Of number 83 now
Just brick and timber strewn
Beneath a Bomber's Moon
A silver pudding spoon
That Billy Horner sees
And then runs in
Leaving Gwendoline

In a few more years me Dad
Himself still just a lad
Will beg to stay out later
Playing in the crater
Beyond the war we win
Now we're leaving Gwendoline

credits

from A Northern Coastal Town: Hull In The Blitz, released July 16, 2021
Joe Solo

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Joe Solo Scarborough, UK

Joe Solo is an award-winning musician, writer, poet, activist, broadcaster and washing machine engineer from Scarborough.

Live he has an ever growing reputation as both a performer and raconteur, being thought-provoking, comical and punch-the-air political often in the same breath.

He is not an artist you forget in a hurry. ... more

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