Bar503 [Synopsis]
Suggested tune
Once on a time this good old town was nothing but a village
Of fishermen and smugglers, that ne'er attempted tillage;
But things are altered very much, such buildings and Naccapolis [sic], [Note 503.1]
It rivals far and soon will leave behind the_Metropolisº.
Chorus: Oh dear oh, for Liverpool's an altered town, oh dear oh.
Once on a time, were you inclined your weary limbs to lave, sir,
In summer's scorching heat, in Mersey's cooling wave, sir,
You'd only just to go behind the old Church for the shore, sir,
But now it's past Jack_Langan¹'s half a mile or more, sir. [Note 503.2]
When things do change you scarce do know what next is sure to follow,
For mark the change in Derby Road that late was Plumpton's fellow;
Now Atkins found it out so smug and changed its etymology,
He clapped in it his wild beast show, now it's Gardens of Zoology. [Note 503.3]
A market was on Shaw's Brown, and it remains there still, sir;
The Infirmary they have taken away and clapped on Brownlow Hill, sir.
There's Gloucester Street and Nelson Street have had an alteration,
They've pulled the most part of them down and built a railway station. [Note 503.4]
There's St Luke's in Bold Street, St George's in the Crescent;
St Peter's in Church Street, I'll name no more at present.
They tell the time to every one their hour that they may hop right ;
By day they go by clockwork but at night they go by gas light. [Note 503.5]
The spire of famed St Thomas's, that long had stood the weather,
Although it was so very high, they've downed it altogether;
And the Old Dock, the poor Old Dock, the theme of many a sonnet,
They've pulled it up and now have built a Custom House upon it. [Note 503.6]
In former times our good old town was guarded from the prigs¹, sir,
By day by constables¹, by night by watchmen¹ with Welsh_wigs¹, sir ;
But things are altered very much, for all those who are scholars,
Can tell our new_policemen¹ by the numbers on their collars.
In former times, if you had taken a walk through Queen's Square, sir,
You might have seen, if you had looked, a slashing¹ rope-walk¹ there, sir;
Yet all those things the public thought were getting very stale, sir,
On the rope-walk they've a market and on the square a whale, sir. [Note 503.7]
Not long ago our sailor swells¹, they were so mighty grown, sir,
They could not spend their evening elsewhere than the saloon, sir; [Note 503.8]
But things are altered very much, the saloon is gone fair, sir,
At every step the ladies go, policemen cry, 'Move on there.' [sir] [Note 503.9]