Sweet Thames, Flow Softly
by Ewan MacColl

Album: Freeborn Man (1968)
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  • Original Version

    I met my girl at Woolwich pier.
    Beneath a big crane standin'.
    And all the love I felt for her.
    It passed all understandin'.

    Took her sailin' on the river.
    Flow, sweet river, flow.
    Londontown was mine to give her.
    Sweet Thames, flow softly.

    Made the Thames into a crown.
    Flow, sweet river, flow.
    Made a brooch of that silver town.
    Sweet Thames, flow softly.

    From Rotherhithe to Putney Bridge.
    My love I was declarin'.
    And she from Queue to Islewood.
    Her love for me was swearin'.

    Love had set my heart a-burnin'.
    Flow, sweet river, flow.
    Never saw the tide was turnin'.
    Sweet Thames, flow softly.

    Gave her Hampton Court to twist.
    Flow, sweet river, flow.
    Into a bracelet for her wrist.
    Sweet Thames, flow softly.

    And now, alas, the tide has changed.
    My love she has gone from me.
    And the winter's frost has touched my heart.
    And left its blight upon me.

    Creepin' fog is on the river.
    Flow, sweet river, flow.
    Sun and moon and stars gone with her.
    Sweet Thames, flow softly.

    Swift the Thames flows to the sea.
    Flow, sweet river, flow.
    Bearin' ships and part of me.
    Sweet Thames, flow softly.

    Extended Version

    I met my girl at Woolwich pier.
    Beneath a big crane standin'.
    And all the love I felt for her.
    It passed all understandin'.

    Took her sailin' on the river.
    Flow, sweet river, flow.
    Londontown was mine to give her.
    Sweet Thames, flow softly.

    Made the Thames into a crown.
    Flow, sweet river, flow.
    Made a brooch of that silver town.
    Sweet Thames, flow softly.

    At London Yard I held her hand.
    At Blackwall Point I faced her.
    At the Isle of Dogs I kissed her mouth.
    And tenderly embraced her.

    Heard the bells of Greenwich ringin'.
    Flow, sweet river, flow.
    All that time my heart was singin'.
    Sweet Thames, flow softly.

    Limehouse Reach I gave her there.
    Flow, sweet river, flow.
    As a ribbon for her hair.
    Sweet Thames, flow softly

    From Shadwell Dock to Nine Elms Reach.
    We cheek to cheek were dancin'.
    Her necklace made of London Bridge.
    Her beauty was enhancin'.

    Kissed her once again at Wapping.
    Flow, sweet river, flow.
    After that there was no stoppin'.
    Sweet Thames, flow softly.

    Richmond Park it was her ring.
    Flow, sweet river, flow.
    I'd have given her anything.
    Sweet Thames, flow softly.

    From Rotherhithe to Putney Bridge.
    My love I was declarin'.
    And she from Queue to Islewood.
    Her love for me was swearin'.

    Love had set my heart a-burnin'.
    Flow, sweet river, flow.
    Never saw the tide was turnin'.
    Sweet Thames, flow softly.

    Gave her Hampton Court to twist.
    Flow, sweet river, flow.
    Into a bracelet for her wrist.
    Sweet Thames, flow softly.

    And now, alas, the tide has changed.
    My love she has gone from me.
    And the winter's frost has touched my heart.
    And left its blight upon me.

    Creepin' fog is on the river.
    Flow, sweet river, flow.
    Sun and moon and stars gone with her.
    Sweet Thames, flow softly.

    Swift the Thames flows to the sea.
    Flow, sweet river, flow.
    Bearin' ships and part of me.
    Sweet Thames, flow softly. Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Comments: 8

  • Keir Hardie from EdinburghThis song was released on the album of the same name by The Critics Group in 1967, and according to bit.ly/3MSISLT it was broadcast on the radio in 1966, so it couldn't have been written in 1968.
  • Scorpio from UkNoghar is wrong, but it is very clumsy grammar, in order to scan within the song. I always thought that it was a song where Ewan wrote the music instead of pinching it from another earlier song, but I think he based it on the tune of "The Recruited Collier"; this was rather a disappointment. As was the fact that he changed his name from the unremarkable "James Miller" to the more ethnic and exciting "Ewan McColl" in 1946, when he was 31.
  • Dawn from Australia Sorry noghar. His grammar is correct. There is more than one way for phrases to be formed, or positions in the sentence for subject or object. Especially in poetry the more unusual form is usual. "The necklace, her beauty was enhancing" means either "the necklace" or "her beauty" is in the objective case. English can be ambiguous and is understood by context when obscure. Think of "the ball the boy kicked then picked up"
  • Ruth from Cheshire, EnglandEwan didn't make a mistake when he wrote "enhancing." The line is "A necklace made of London Bridge her beauty was enhancing" meaning that the necklace was enhancing her beauty.
  • Noghar from Brentford, United KingdomAnd while we're at it, it looks very much like McColl himself made a mistake when he wrote 'her beauty was enhancing'. From the lyrics it isn't clear her beauty was 'enhancing,' or improving anything. Whenever I sing this I always put in 'entrancing' as I like to think that's what he meant. Also the version Planxty recorded on their eponymous first album was not the extended version or even the original but one cut down to about six verses. Isleworth and Hampton Court were not mentioned and it was Richmond Park that was given 'a twist/ into bracelet for her wrist.'
  • Ken from Douglas, AkWell, many of the place names in the song are not presented in geographic order. My theory is...it didn't ALL happen in the same boat trip.

    As to the implications that Ewan was cheating on Peggy...well, that's the right-wing British press for you. They never had liked the fact that Ewan had been able to get away with album after album of radical music, and they were going to do anything to bash Ewan(and every other musician/singer on the left).
  • Terry from London, United KingdomAnd Queue to Islewood is a bit odd!! Its actually
    'Kew to Isleworth' Up stream just before the first Thames Lock .
  • Wilf from Bury St Edmunds, United KingdomIt is not: " of that silver town" It is "Made a brooch of Silver Town" - Silver Town being a famous place on the river - that is thames just in case you were forgetting the title of the song
see more comments

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