Episode 3

full
Published on:

18th Nov 2024

Howay Jimmy

Howay Jimmy  

Chorus

Howay Jimmy come on down

Look at our new town

The streets are lined 

And soon you’ll find 

There’re full of roaring crowds

Howay Jimmy come on down

Give our hands a shake 

We’re dressed up to the nines

And we’ve asked the band to play 

‘Cause things like this don’t happen every day…

Verse 1

Flags at the ready

Lets wave those stars and stripes

A striking combination of red blue and white

Hello Mr President

With one we share a name

And here you are on your first trip of presidential fame 

Bridge

Pedal to the floor he arrives our doorstep

Like that of those before and so the story goes

Chorus

Howay Jimmy come on down

Look at our new town

The streets are lined 

And soon you’ll find 

There’re full of roaring crowds

Howay Jimmy come on down

Give our hands a shake 

We’re dressed up to the nines

And we’ve asked the band to play 

‘Cause things like this don’t happen every day…

Verse 2

Green thumbs at the ready

Let’s head down to the green

We all know what happened to that poor tulip tree

Hello Mr President

For you we have a gift 

A miners flame safety lamp used in colliery F

Bridge

Pedal to the floor he arrives our doorstep

Like that of those before and so the story goes

Chorus

Howay Jimmy come on down

Look at our new town

The streets are lined 

And soon you’ll find 

There’re full of roaring crowds

Howay Jimmy come on down

Give our hands a shake 

We’re dressed up to the nines

And we’ve asked the band to play 

‘Cause things like this don’t happen every day…

Middle 8 

Howay Jimmy, Howay Jimmy, Howay Jimmy, Howay Jimmy x2 (whoas in background)

Chorus

Howay Jimmy come on down

Look at our new town

The streets are lined 

And soon you’ll find 

There’re full of roaring crowds

Howay Jimmy come on down

Give our hands a shake 

We’re dressed up to the nines

And we’ve asked the band to play 

‘Cause things like this don’t happen every day…

‘Cause things like this don’t happen round our way…

‘Cause things like this don’t happen Mmmmm

Howay Jimmy was written and performed by Paige Temperley.

Credits

You’ve been listening to the Washington Community Podcasting group and Laurie Endean-Olsen, David Warden, Olive Metcalfe, Jim Metcalfe, City Swing, April Welby, Mike Laws, Barbara Fiddy and Shaun Hair.

The Crocodile and the Underpass ballad podcast is produced by Grace Stubbings and the Washington community podcasting group, with songs composed and performed by David Brewis and Paige Temperley. The project was developed by Washington Heritage Partnership, Sunderland City Council’s Washington Area Committee, Sunderland Culture at The Arts Centre Washington, Baseline Shift and We Make Culture, with support from the University of Sunderland. and The National Heritage Lottery Fund. This project has been made possible by the support of The National Lottery Heritage Fund with many thanks to National Lottery players.

Executive Producers: Caroline Mitchell and Jude Murphy

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About the Podcast

The Ballad of the Crocodile and the Underpass
Collecting and Sharing Stories of Washington New Town
‘The Ballad of the Crocodile and the Underpass' - Stories of Washington New Town’, is a podcast ballad partnership between Washington Heritage Partnership, We Make Culture, University of Sunderland, Baseline Shift and Arts Centre Washington. Since April 2024 this partnership, podcaster and musician Grace Stubbings and the Washington community podcasting group have been working with people and organisations in Washington to collect and share experiences of life in a new town.

Musicians Paige Temperley and David Brewis (Field Music) have been working with community members and young people at Arts Centre Washington to turn stories of Washington into songs.
The songs, interviews, sounds and archive recordings have been woven together to create unique ballad podcasts. The group have been influenced by the radio ballad work of Charles Parker, Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger who made radio ballads about working class stories in the 1950s and '60s for the BBC.

In the first series, 5 episodes will tell the stories of:
1. The Town of Roundabouts: how the new town was delineated by new roads, roundabouts, concrete crocodiles, and the ever-so-controversial district numbering system.
2. The Underpasses - These features aren't unique to new towns but they are very prevalent. We explore the ideal that no child would ever need to cross a road to attend school and the modern day realities of these 'betwixt and between' spaces.
3. H’way Jimmy - Memories of the 1977 visit of US President Jimmy Carter to Washington Village, the ancestral home of George Washington.
4. Ghost and Witches - Just because you're in a new town doesn't mean that you're free of legends, superstition and the ghosts of earlier settlements. We hear personal stories of the supernatural, as well as the sad tales of women accused of witchcraft.
5. The Curly Wurly Bridge - Did you know that Fatfield is home to a concrete icon? This episode looks at the so-called Curly Wurly Bridge, the design that took Fatfield from pit village to modern development, and busts a myth or two about Mediterranean influences.