Music Monday: Deptford Shanty Crew

London Mayor Boris Johnson is due to make a decision this month on whether to give planning permission to the controversial proposal for a redevelopment of Convoys Wharf, the riverside site in Deptford that was once home to the Royal Dockyard. As reported here previously, Johnson announced last October that he was taking the power to make this decision away from Lewisham Council.

The Deptford Shanty Crew have written a song for the campaign against the current Convoys Wharf plan- 'Deptford's Dockyard':

Chorus:
And it's [stamp] sell her off to a big business man
There goes Deptford's dockyard
There goes our history and our land
Way off in the hands of the London mayor

Verses:
They dug up the anchor and took it away
There goes Deptford's dockyard
Would not listen to what the people say
Now it's way off in the hands of the London mayor

Locals wanna build the Lenox again
Right there in Deptford's dockyard
Could pass on their history to the next gen
But it's way off in the hands of the London mayor

Apprentices could learn the trade
Right there in Deptford's dockyard
Our maritime history could be saved
But it's way off in the hands of the London mayor

Open up the gardens for all to see
Right there in Deptford's dockyard
We want Evelyn's vision to be free
But it's way off in the hands of the London mayor

The developers just don't get the plan
There goes Deptford's dockyard
They're gonna flush our project down the pan
They put it in the hands of the London mayor

No jobs and homes for us in their plan
Right there in Deptford's dockyard
Just lots more cash in the developers bank
Now it's way off in the hands of the London mayor

They want to sell more expensive flats
Right there in Deptford's dockyard
But people come first and that is that
And Deptford's history's worth more than cash!

So listen to us and not their dough
It's our Deptford dockyard
Boris give our project a chance to grow
Release it from the hands of the London mayor



For more on the campaign, see Deptford Is...

Deptford Shanty Crew was formed last year, here they are performing at the Deptford Lounge in December 2013 singing the 19th century sailors song 'Homeward Bound', which in some versions mentions the Dog and Bell pub in Deptford and its 1820s landlord David Archer (see Deptford Misc for more detail):

'And now we haul to the Dog and Bell
Where there's good liquor for to sell.
ln comes old Archer with a smile,
Saying: "Drink, my lads, it's worth your while."
For I see you are homeward bound,
I see you are homeward bound'.