‘Workers’ Song’ Recorded by Dick Gaughan on his iconic 1981 album ‘Handful of Earth’. Dick’s arrangement of the song is typically generous.  This song has been recorded from Scotland to Australia. Must give a mention to ‘The Dropkick Murphys’ of Boston USA who recorded this song on their CD ‘Blackout’. A great group.

‘Heads Held High’ is a song written about the end of the miners’ strike in 1985. It was inspired by Michael Ross a former miner at Westoe Colliery, South Shields.Recently used in a drama production. How quickly the miners strike has become history although coal itself make be making a comeback.

‘Farewell Johnny Miner’ Miners have always moved to seek work but now there is no mining work. County Durham has no mines at all. When I was a child in the 1940’s there were 150. This song has been recorded by a lot of people now - The Battlefield Band, AlistairRussell - who gave me permission to use his version on my website-the great Bob Davenport and a high energy Durham group called Whiskey Priests.

‘Ah Cud Hew’ Hewing is cutting coal with a pick. Miners, under the private colliery owners had to buy their own picks. They even had to pay to have them sharpened.This song can be found on Topic Records. It has also been recorded by the opera singer Thomas Allen.Someone has written a parody about old age called I Could Chew!

‘Strange Lover is a Coalmine’ The mine, where I grew up, dominated economic life. It was the centre of a community but that does no mean it was always loved. If you talk to miners they all say that what they miss about mining is the craic. This has been recorded by the group ‘Pegleg Ferret’. I heard it sung the other night by the Newcastle fiddler Tom McConville and he did it brilliantly.

‘Pound A Week Rise’ I wrote this song when I was 19 years of age in 1962. Because of the efforts of the great Dick Gaughan the song still survives. He has just released it on a 2 CD overview of the first three decades of his work as a writer, singer, guitarist and interpreter of other works. The album is on Greentrax Recording and is called ‘Prentice Piece’.It has been recorded by numerous people. Why the song has lasted this long I just don’t know. There’s an Australian called Fintan just recorded it as well as a Canadian group called The Paperboys. A powerful American piper and singer - Neil Anderson has also recorded the song. The song was first recorded by The exiles. Even Ewan MacColl sang it so it must have something.

‘Crumpled Mac’ Written during the miners’ strike of 1985 it mixes up two macs - the crumpled mac that my dad used to wear to go to the pit and the crumpled MacGreggor that the goverment brought in to defeat the miners.

 ‘Devil is In the Dust’ The legacy of mining still lives on.

‘They’ll Never Beat The Miners’ Another song written during the miners’ strike. It was recorded on an album called ‘Heroes’ by ‘The Wildon Brothers’

‘One Miner’s Life’ Written in verse that chart a man’s life.Dick Gaughan does an interpretation of it on ‘True & Bold’. Bob Fox - the great North East troubadour has just released this song for Topic on his CD The Blast. Bob is carrying his songs to the world now - I’m biased because he’s from the NE - but -good luck to him I say!

‘Hamster Sid’ The answer to the energy crisis? It was written about a real hamster but his name wasn’t Sid. I like to protect my sources.

‘South Shields Snowman’About as low as anyone can get is to pinch a snowman. The South Shields bluesman Jim Murray swears that this happed to him.

‘There’s Something About That Fellow’ Inspired by the style of the muic hall entertainer Albert Whelan.

‘The Polluter’ Whatever happened to recycling?

‘The Gateshead Angel’ Gateshead is on the south of the River Tyne facing Newcastle. These are things that provoke rivalryalthough that NE legend Louis Killen tells me that reprochement is in the air - all down to the angel no doubt. This has been recorded by Jim Bainbridge on his CD ‘Lights on the River’ [a line from the song]

‘Le Voyeur’ One of the very few French cabaret songs written in County Durham. Eric Freeman - the man who runs the award-winning folk club at Washington Arts Centre does this song very well.

‘See A Toad’ Every spring toads are slaughterd. It’s got to stop!

‘Cliff Richard Song’ My good friend Tom Cumiskey gave me the idea for this song from what his daughter said to him. It has been recorded by world travelling Jim Bainbridge - a great musician.

‘Things I’ve Never Done’ is a comic comment about the trials and frustrations of never being “where it’s at.”

‘There’s Always Something’ is about staying optimistic

‘McGinn’ contains some remembered stories told to me by Matt McGinn - the Scottish songwriter. Matt’s work lives on. He was a true folk writer of the highest quality. It is a long, long time since Matt left us but his legacy-his songs- are very popular in the clubs, pubs and anywhere people sing. One night-in a Sunderland folk club - a man was offering everyone a pint who could sing a McGinn song-lucky night for me-lucky night for a lot of people.

The Oldest Swinger In Town 2002 Like I say on the page - I keep rewriting this song so why don’t you? A version of the original song was recorded by the south west of England icon Fred Wedlock. It was also recorded by Diarmuid O’Leary & The Bards - a very entertaining Irish group with a long track record of success.

‘Death Of A Comedian’ The world has some wonderful sights. A comedian going down badly is not one of them.

’Buying A House’ Estate agent speak - the only group of people who are not attacked by sharks out of professional curtesy.

‘The Darts Match’ I always enjoy doing this monolgue live. It seems to be the party piece for one or two people.

’If They Come For You’ My attempt at an old fashioned union song. I like American Labor songs.

‘The Bridge Hotel’ is a pub in Newcastle Upon Tyne famed for it’s musical traditions.

‘The Pubs Gone By’ A mock tribute to the smoke infested hell holes of the past.

‘Seaham Harbour Lifeboat Disaster’ The song chronicles and event on the north east coast of England in 1962. Seaham has seen many disasters - mainly connected with the pits - but this disaster will never be forgotten. A terrible tragedy.

‘Sixteen On The Dole’ is about youth unemployment and promises not kept.

‘The Pilot and The Lady’ Someone told me that this was a true story.

‘Been Too Long Away’ The usual tale of regret.

‘Weekend Gypsy’ is about part-time romanys.

‘Ballad Of The Crested Newt’ came out of an observation made by someone - to myself - about crested newts.