As a kid I’d see the ships
Slowly taking shape
Nightshift riveters and caulkers
Keeping us awake

My dad worked at Swan
In the Neptune Yard
Worked the slipways in all weather
7.30 start

Call me up boy
Sit you down by the fireside spend some time
All the pride boy
And the tears
Tears enough to fill the Tyne

Gleaming vessels
Filling up the sky
Dwarfing rows of terraced houses
Larger than life

Tell me what do you do
When what you did is gone
No one throwing you a lifeline
How do you carry on?

Call me up boy
Sit you down by the fireside spend some time
All the pride boy
And the tears
Tears enough to fill the Tyne

So much larger than life
From father to son
We carry it on
It isn’t going change the world
It isn’t going to change the past
‘Cos some things are meant to last

So much larger than life
From father to son
We carry it on

Call me up boy
Sit you down by the fireside spend some time
All the pride boy
And the tears
Tears enough to fill the Tyne