The Ballad of the Crocodile and the Underpass

The Underpasses

Listen on

Episode notes

Underpass

Verse 1

When I was just a bairn

Barely bar-stool high

I’d nestle in the club

To see what stories might pass by

And every now and then

I’d hear the most alluring lass

Tell a handsome washy chap

She’d show him round her underpass

Chorus

Underpass

Take a tour around my underpass

A three-dimensional, architectural

Oh, so peculiar wonder

It’s my underpass

It could be your underpass

And though it may sound crass

I love you so

Verse 2

I’d cycled through a few

On my evening paper round

I’d never thought to wonder

What enchantments might abound

Within their lustrous concrete walls

Such prefabricated class

No troglodyte could tarnish

Her exemplary underpass

Chorus

Underpass

Take a tour around my underpass

A three-dimensional, architectural

Oh, so peculiar wonder

It’s my underpass

It could be your underpass

And though it may sound crass

I’d ask you, dear, to dash

The romance may not last

I love you… now

'Underpass' was written and performed by David Brewis.

Credits

You’ve been listening to the Washington Community Podcasting group and Dr Ian Cook, Northumbria University, Professor Caroline Mitchell – University of Sunderland, Jude Murphy, Tommy Anderson, Chris Morland, Claire Kingston, Jamie Murray, Ged Parker – Washington History Society, Roger Morris, Jennifer Tindall and Mike Clay.

The Crocodile and the Underpass ballad podcast is produced by Grace Stubbings and the Washington community podcasting group, with songs composed and performed by David Brewis and Paige Temperley. The project was developed by Washington Heritage Partnership, Sunderland City Council’s Washington Area Committee, Sunderland Culture at The Arts Centre Washington, Baseline Shift and We Make Culture, with support from the University of Sunderland. and The National Heritage Lottery Fund. This project has been made possible by the support of The National Lottery Heritage Fund with many thanks to National Lottery players.

Executive producers Caroline Mitchell and Jude Murphy