The Big Ship Sails -Up the ALLY-ALLY-OH
A popular song that Manchester kids used to sing about the Ships coming up along the Ship Canal
THE BIG SHIP SAILS ON THE ALLY-ALLY-OH
The big ship sails on the ally-ally-oh.
The ally-ally-oh, the ally-ally-oh.
Oh, the big ship sails on the ally-ally-oh.
On the last day of September.
The captain said it will never, never do.
Never, never do, never, never do.
The captain said it will never, never do.
On the last day of September.
The big ship sank to the bottom of the sea.
The bottom of the sea, the bottom of the sea.
The big ship sank to the bottom of the sea.
On the last day of September.
We all dip our heads in the deep blue sea.
The deep blue sea, the deep blue sea.
We all dip our heads in the deep blue sea.
On the last day of September.
But it doesent anymore!
Children in Salford & Manchester used to sing it in the fifties and early sixties, often whilst skipping rope: but I doubt they do anymore, because the big ships sail the Manchester ship canal no more, and kids play with their XBox , not out in the streets with a Woolworths skipping rope.
And in the Film 'A Taste Of Honey'
There are shots of the ship canal in the very early sixties in the story of a black sailor and a girl from Salford (Rita Tushingham).
CRUISES on THE SHIP CANAL The SHIP CANAL HISTORY
Related Leaves
The song was written in 1965 by Billy Page. It became an instant hit with British Mods and especially so in Manchester at the Twisted Wheel Club where the arrogance of the lyrics chimed with the elitist Mod movement in the city. The Manchester music scene at 'The Wheel' was by 65' turning to all things Soul and from that time in that year of it's release the song became a continuous theme for Soul lovers right up to the time the club closed in 1971. It migrated to the Wigan Casino and other clubs and became an apocryphal and an initiating sound of the Northern Soul movement, that flourishes today.
