Jack Forbes 1982
Written for a BBC radio ballad, Wind Over Tilbury, about the switch from the old labour-intensive London docks to mechanised container ports and the upheaval it caused. Additional verses by Becky Wright & Miriam Attia
I once was a rigger and I worked like Hell Rollin’ up, rollin’ down But now I’m a sailor with the OCL Rollin’ down the river. Chorus Rollin’ up, rollin’ down We’ll all get drunk in Tilbury town In twenty-four hours we’ll turn around and go Rollin’ down the river. The cargo comes in TEUs That’s a twenty-foot box, boys, full of booze. When first I saw a TEU I wondered where they put the crew. There’s a Tilbury girl called Kettle Jane First she’s on the boil then she’s off again. She’s got a friend called Teapot Anne And when she wants she’ll take a man But at the dockyard gate when it’s time to rest You can pick ’em up if they say yes