"Smelling the spring on a smokey wind"... are you a Pogues or Dubliners man?
I experienced that smell yesterday walking down by the lake near my new 'pad' ... such a powerful hopeful feeling it evoked. Not quite the same smell you get in the industrial north of england, but still evocative.
Yes, there's several versions of "Dirty Old Town" out there.
I like them all. It's a really great song written by Ewan MacColl who also wrote "The First Time Ever I saw Your Face" which Gord did a truly remarkable version. It highlights the emotional vibrato and purity of his voice in those early years when the song was recorded.
RJ.
Quite beautiful that song, I must look up more by Ewan MacColl - I'm a lyrics junkie, but the tunes are also wonderful. Emotional vibrato, purity - yes that's it.