Songs about Engineering

[Anonymous]

This post has been removed at the author’s request.

[Martin KyteParticipant @martinkyte99762]

"Dirty old Town"

The Pogues

Martin

[JAParticipant @ja]

Grateful Dead, again – "Monkey and the Engineer". I am sure the song preceded The Dead. They also did a few very good railroad songs.

JA

Also American, traditional – "John Henry"

Edited By JA on 23/02/2022 16:49:24

[JAParticipant @ja]

Again American, this time traditional – "John Henry".

This should have been an edit to my previous post.

JA

Sorry, I have now managed to double post this!

Edited By JA on 23/02/2022 16:50:41

[Chris GillParticipant @chrisgill22114]

Back in the70's the Teesside Fettlers often sang at the folk club in the Sun Inn, Stockton-on-Tees. They produced two LPs with a number of songs about steel making, mining, and other aspects of life in the area. One of my favourite refrains is from the song "Steelmen" …

Hammer it, weld it, roll it to and fro,

Cleveland steel is of the best, I'll have you's all to know.

Forge it, cast it, mould it how you like,

Neat as a Geordie hinnie bird and tough as a Yorkshire tyke.

Ah well, the rolling mills and blast furnaces may be gone now but I still have this on the workshop play list.

[Roderick JenkinsParticipant @roderickjenkins93242]

Posted by Rik Shaw on 23/02/2022 14:23:42:

This haunting little refrain is sung to the REME marching tune – Lille Marlene.

I think Liilebullero rather than Lille Marlene. My Dad, as a graduate electrical engineer, was called up to the REME right at the start in 1942.

I suppose we can add Foo Fighters "monkey wrench" but not really about engineering.

Regards,

Rod

[GeorgineerParticipant @georgineer]

Posted by Nicholas Farr on 23/02/2022 10:57:10:

…you might be able to include Junkman from Groundhogs Split album.

I don't know that one, but Junk Man by Caspar Reardon with Jack Teagarden's Band is the most sublime piece of jazz harp playing I've ever heard.

I first heard it when Jazz Record Requests was still being introduced by Humphrey Lyttelton.

Would Henry's made a lady out of Lizzie count?

George

[JAParticipant @ja]

There is an amazing short piece of classical music called "The Iron Foundry". It was written in the early years of the Soviet Union, is very loud, cacophinous, and terrifying to play. I think the composer died in the Stalin purges.

JA

[Simon CollierParticipant @simoncollier74340]

Engine 143.

[Andy StopfordParticipant @andystopford50521]

For a problematic interface between man and machine, how about "The Widowmaker" from "Captain Lockheed and the Starfighters"?

Come to think of it, "Death Trap" by Hawkwind describes mechanical failure

[Danny M2ZParticipant @dannym2z]

The Glenn Miller Orchestra, The Chattanooga Choo Choo **LINK**

Warning, this could be considered a bit racist nowadays.

Edited By Danny M2Z on 24/02/2022 06:25:31

[Jon LawesParticipant @jonlawes51698]

The men who will not be blamed for nothing did a song called Brunel…. its good, but maybe not one for a quiet evening…

Tenuously, Locomotive Breath by Jethro Tull? Or even Heavy Horses….

[Speedy Builder5Participant @speedybuilder5]

Lord of all Hopefulness:-

"Whose strong hands were skilled at the plane and the lathe"

Jan Struther

[Colin WhittakerParticipant @colinwhittaker20544]

An engineer told me before he died

as learned at the UK's foremost engineering university in the late 70's

Edited By Colin Whittaker on 24/02/2022 06:52:54

[Jon LawesParticipant @jonlawes51698]

Posted by Colin Whittaker on 24/02/2022 06:51:42:

An engineer told me before he died

as learned at the UK's foremost engineering university in the late 70's

Edited By Colin Whittaker on 24/02/2022 06:52:54

Don't make the mistake of looking up the lyrics at work (no sound on my pc). I may be in trouble now.

Typically the words NSFW are used to indicate when a post is Not Safe For Work; this is one of those times.

[Danny M2ZParticipant @dannym2z]

Posted by Colin Whittaker on 24/02/2022 06:51:42:

An engineer told me before he died

as learned at the UK's foremost engineering university in the late 70's

Edited By Colin Whittaker on 24/02/2022 06:52:54

As learned by myself in the Army Cadets in the 1960's, what a great learning experience that was to travel to camps with mates and learn to sing naughty songs while sitting in a train or the back of a Bedford truck.

I was about 15 years old at the time but the song remains in my memory as a classic that never was played on the BBC.

[Brian Baker 2Participant @brianbaker2]

Greetings,

Has "The Runaway Train" been noted yet?

Regards

Brian B

[J HancockParticipant @jhancock95746]

Or , Bridge over Troubled Waters ?

[Brian GParticipant @briang]

"The First Rebreather" by Big Big Train is about the recovery of the flooded Severn Tunnel in 1880. Not a song for the claustrophobic.

Brian G

Edit: Link to song and lyrics

 

Edited By Brian G on 24/02/2022 09:33:11

[noel shelleyParticipant @noelshelley55608]

Richard digence – SHIRLEY, loosely involves a machine ! Credence clear water,ROLLING, on the river, PROUD MARY, but what is proud mary, is it the boiler, that keeps burning is it the engine, or what ? Noel.

[Mick B1Participant @mickb1]

Posted by Colin Whittaker on 24/02/2022 06:51:42:

An engineer told me before he died

as learned at the UK's foremost engineering university in the late 70's

Edited By Colin Whittaker on 24/02/2022 06:52:54

I thought that song was funny when I was a lad, but it's gross and bloody-minded.

[ChrisHParticipant @chrish]

Last train to San Fernando

If I had a hammer…..

Sailing

[Gep EnglerParticipant @gepengler40547]

Two songs in Durch, both by "Ed & Willem Bever" (both from "de Fabeltjeskrant", a a Dutch children's television series featuring puppetry and stop motion broadcasted in the seventies).
See: **LINK**

Stoomlied (Steam Song):
YouTube: **LINK**
Song Text: **LINK**

Hup, daar is Willem met de waterpomptang (Whoops, there is William with the water pump pliers):
YouTube: **LINK**
Song Text: **LINK**

Enjoy !

Regards from The Netherlands, Gep

[Martin KyteParticipant @martinkyte99762]

Captain Lockheed and the Starfighters

"Bleedin' radar crew, bin usin' my spanners for stirrin' their tea."

;O)

Martin

[Nicholas FarrParticipant @nicholasfarr14254]

Hi Noel, Proud Mary in the song is a Riverboat Proud Mary But started of as a women working as a maid for rich people.

Regards Nick.

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