Up the 'Pool

Album: Living In The Past (1971)
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  • I'm going up the 'Pool
    From down the smoke below
    To taste me mum's jam sarnies
    And see our Aunty Flo.
    The candy floss salesman
    Watches ladies in then sand
    Down for a freaky weekend in the hope
    That they'll be meeting Mr. Universe.
    The iron tower smiles down upon the silver sea
    And along the Golden Mile
    They'll be swigging mugs of tea.
    The politicians there,
    Who've come to take the air,
    While posing for the daily press
    Will look around and blame
    The mess on Edward Pier.

    There'll be buckets, spades and bingo,
    Cockles, mussels, rainy days,
    Seaweed and sand castles, icy waves,
    Deck chairs, rubber dinghies,
    Old vests, braces dangling down,
    A suntanned stranded starfish in a daze.

    I'm going up the 'Pool
    From down the smoke below
    To taste me mum's jam sarnies
    And see our Aunty Flo.
    The candy flosses salesman
    Watches ladies in then sand
    Down for a freaky weekend
    In the hope that
    They'll be meeting Mr. Universe.

    There'll be buckets, spades and bingo,
    Cockles, mussels, rainy days,
    Seaweed and sand castles, icy waves,
    Deck chairs, rubber dinghies,
    Old vests, braces dangling down,
    A suntanned stranded starfish in a daze.
    Oh, Blackpool,
    Oh, Blackpool. Writer/s: IAN ANDERSON
    Publisher: BMG Rights Management
    Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Comments: 2

  • Craig from CaliforniaThe opening lines can be somewhat cryptic if you don't know your British slang. "I'm going up the pool" (going up to Blackpool) "from down the smoke below" (from London, known as "the smoke") "to taste my mum's jam sarnies" (jam sandwiches). "Candyfloss" is the British name for cotton candy.
  • Subourbon from Southern CalIt occurred to me today that Ian here is singing about Arnold Schwarzenegger! At the time this song was written, he had won Mr. Universe competition three times, and once as an amateur (1967-1970). That has to be who he is referring to.
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