I Can’t Find Brummagem is a marvellous local interest song for those of us that live in England’s second city. It dates back well over a hundred years, and I’ve been meaning to do something with it since hearing an updated version of it sung at the Traditional Arts Team song session at the Midland Arts Centre this time last year.

The song’s source, for me, was the Victoria’s Inferno songbook; the narrator’s complaint that the city’s pace of change is such that he can’t find any of the people or places familiar to him is still incredibly potent and has a huge resonance for the changes Birmingham has seen in the last few years.

I soon realised, though, that if performed as it stood the references would mean very little - of course it’s very sad that poor Old Spiceal Street’s gone but I’ve no idea where it was, as generations have passed since it disappeared.

Therefore I set myself the task of writing a version of the song that contained landmarks relevant to me - and hopefully to a modern Brummie audience. Hence, there are references to the closure of the Rover plant in Longbridge, the recent filling-in of the Kennedy Memorial at St. Chad’s circus, the demolition of my junior school to make way for (what I think is) sheltered accommodation, and the all-new and shiny Bull Ring.

they’ve closed the longbridge factory down
in south west brummagem
and took the work from out the town
and far away from brummagem
and where my father earned his wage
belongs now to a bygone age
it blinds my eyes with tears of rage
for the working soul of brummagem

I’ve only changed the tune a little, and I’ll post up my revisions - and changes of harmony - when I get a moment. The original can be found here

My lyrics are in pdf format here. I’d be delighted if anyone else would like to make use of them, or alter them to fit their own recollections, as long as I’m acknowledged as their source.