Shipyard Apprentice Songtext

I was born in the shadow of a Fairfield's crane And the blast of a freighter's horn Was the very first sound that reached my ears On the morning that I was born As I lay and listened to the shipyard sounds Coming out of the unknown I was lulled to sleep by a mother tongue That was to be my own Before I grew to one year old I heard a siren scream And a city watched in the blacked-out night A wandering searchlight's beam And then one day I awoke and rose To my first day of peace But I learned that the battle to stay alive Was never going to cease And I've sat and 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 And as times grew harder day by day Along the riverside I've often heard my mother say It was tears that made the Clyde I sat in school from nine to four And dreamed of the world outside Where the riveters and the platers watched Their ships slip to the Clyde And I served my time behind shipyard gates And I've often mourned my lot But if anyone tries to mess me about Then I'll fight like my fathers fought