More Weekends Away, “Shipbuilding” On The Clyde and Robert Wyatt

Since celebrating this blog’s 10th birthday, I’ve done a pretty good job of posting something new every Saturday as that’s pretty much my only free day for blogging nowadays. I averaged 50 posts per year over the first 10 years so I thought it would be really easy to aim for that target going forward but I’ve now missed four Saturday sessions, one because we were puppy-sitting and three because we’ve been away for the weekend. I have a bit of catching up to do.

I’ve already written about the weekend I was down in Glasgow for the Take That Circus Tour, so what else have I been up? After not having been down in “Glasgowshire” since 2019, I ended up going again within the following three weeks. When you are used to driving in the Scottish Highlands you are not used to the fast paced motorway network that gets people around in the South of Scotland. It was therefore with some trepidation that we ventured by car down to Greenock on the River Clyde to visit my uncle and cousins. As it turned out it was very easy, as the same motorway took us right through the centre of the big city and continued onto Greenock with no slip roads having to be negotiated at any point – phew.

Of course I knew all about the history of shipbuilding on the River Clyde and how it turned Glasgow into the Second City of the British Empire for a time. For decades, over 20% of the world’s ships were constructed there. The earliest commercial steamship was built in 1812 and by the late 19th and early 20th centuries over 200 shipyards lined the river, made famous for producing legendary vessels, including luxury ocean liners and naval warships. Sadly those days have long gone but I still remember watching the likes of Shop Steward Jimmy Reid on the news in 1971, organising work-ins after the collapse of the Upper Clyde Shipbuilders consortium. Rather than striking, he wanted to ensure the workers completed orders and projected the best image they possibly could. Many of us will remember his address where he instructed them that there should be “no hooliganism, no vandalism and no bevvying”. First time a public figure probably used the word bevvying (drinking) in a widely broadcast address.

Greenock, Gourock and Port Glasgow all merge together nowadays and I visited all three places on my weekend away. You can still see signs of the now defunct shipbuilding industry and the wealth it brought to the towns, but the big warehouses have now been converted to luxury flats overlooking the Clyde and boats now leave the many piers taking people on pleasure cruises. I don’t know about you but when I think of shipbuilding on the Clyde nowadays, I can’t help but think of the comedian Billy Connolly. Like many boys his age in Glasgow he entered the shipyards after he left school and has often said that’s where he learnt his craft. The men he worked with had a great rapport with each other and he still thinks their humour was funnier than anything he came up with.

When visiting my uncle in his fine flat overlooking the Clyde, I was lucky enough to see The Waverley pass by. It was built in 1947 and is the last sea-going paddle steamer in the world. There used to be many such passenger steamers on the Clyde, running from Glasgow downstream to Rothesay and other towns, a journey known as going “doon the watter”. Many Glaswegians started their annual holiday on such vessels.

When watching The Waverly pass by I was reminded of another boat famous for travelling down the Clyde. I don’t know if it was screened in the rest of the country but the The Vital Spark was a television series based on the Para Handy books by Neil Munro. Para Handy was the captain of the puffer The Vital Spark and the series followed the crew’s adventures in the 1930s, around the coastal waters of the West of Scotland. I think I was too young for the original 1960s black and white series but I remember well the one aired in the 1970s in colour. Must-watch television in our house at the time. Think it still stands the test of time.

But here I am writing about comedy that was derived from the antics of workers in the shipyards and on the puffers. This is a music blog, so where is the song?

A bit of a no-brainer really – it’s going to be the song Shipbuilding by Elvis Costello, the most successful version recorded by Robert Wyatt. It was actually written during the  Falklands War in 1982, with Elvis’s lyrics highlighting the irony of the war bringing back prosperity to traditional shipbuilding areas such as  Clydeside, in building new ships to replace those being sunk in the war, whilst also sending their sons off to fight and potentially lose their lives in those same ships.  Looking back I don’t think the war lasted long enough for that to happen, but 44 years later there is still anger in Argentina over that war, which sadly spilled onto the football pitch after this week’s grudge match between the two erstwhile foes.

I have seen Elvis Costello perform that song, but I very embarrassingly interrupted him in mid-flow at Aberdeen’s Capitol Theatre. I was Yoko in the early 1980s, always wanting to be with my boyfriend, but having to accept he always had a coterie of male friends around him as well. They didn’t want to watch the support act which turned out to be The Bluebells who went on to great things, but decided to leave the theatre bar just in time for the main event. After consuming a few half pints I had to go to the “ladies” first, which took a while, so I was last to my seat and after Elvis had started his set. We had good seats near the front so I was mortified at having to walk down the middle aisle to get to my spot, Elvis giving me dagger looks all the while. Maybe I imagined it but I still cringe about that long walk to this day. Sorry Elvis.

Until next time…

Shipbuilding Lyrics
(Song by Elvis Costello/Clive Langer)

Is it worth it
A new winter coat and shoes for the wife
And a bicycle on the boy’s birthday
It’s just a rumour that was spread around town
By the women and children
Soon we’ll be shipbuilding
Well I ask you
The boy said ‘DAD THEY’RE GOING TO TAKE ME TO TASK
BUT I’LL BE BACK BY CHRISTMAS‘
It’s just a rumour that was spread around town
Somebody said that someone got filled in
For saying that people get killed in
The result of this shipbuilding
With all the will in the world
Diving for dear life
When we could be diving for pearls
It’s just a rumour that was spread around town
A telegram or a picture postcard
Within weeks they’ll be re-opening the shipyards
And notifying the next of kin
Once again
It’s all we’re skilled in
We will be shipbuilding
WITH ALL THE WILL IN THE WORLD
DIVING FOR DEAR LIFE
WHEN WE COULD BE DIVING FOR PEARLS