Waterways by Vincent Dunn In days gone by now So I've been told These narrowboats built To carry grain and coal So wide the mills Where worked the looms When cotton was the rage Men stoked the fires That gave us steam Young boy watched the gauge Chorus : Waterways round our town History before you So close your eyes and you'll agree What I say is true Towpaths are well worn Where horses trod With his master beside him And sounds of his clogs In my mind's eye I see A face wracked with pain Both man and beast they tow the boat Through the mist and rain Chorus Wildlife abundant Flora and streams Those filled in sections Water ran free Flatties queued for the locks Tidings exchanged While overhead on aqueducts Through the air we sailed Chorus Now those days have long gone And industry's changed But the waters around us They still remain The old man's retired, the horse has died And the engine's took its place But the Castlefield and the Mary Grey And Atilla still remain Chorus Written and sung by the late Vincent Dunn with the Manchester folk band Rum All In, which featured actor John Henshaw and Ged Collins, David King, Gerard Gyves and Bernard Wilson. Waterways is about the history of the canals around Manchester and Salford. The band was formed in the 1980s.