If you were asked who composed Dirty Old Town and where it was written about, you'd be almost certain to get the answer wrong.
You'd be forgiven for getting them wrong too as there are some big myths surrounding the song sung by the Gasworks wall.
Made famous in Ireland by The Pogues, The Dubliners (to be more specific Luke Kelly) and Paddy Reilly, it'd be no surprise if you waged your bets on one of those three - but you'd be wrong.
The song was written by folk singer Ewan MacColl who dreamed the dream for the hit in 1946 for a documentary.
![Ewan MacColl](https://i2-prod.dublinlive.ie/news/dublin-news/article20311525.ece/ALTERNATES/s615b/1_ewan-maccolljpeg.jpg)
His version, the original, is like neither of the aforementioned above and is a duet sang with a woman called Peggy Seeger - an American folk singer and his partner for over 30 years.
It contains a similar and equally questionable sax solo in the middle of the song (it kicks in where the fiddle and trad would stick the boot in The Pogues' version) that Ted and Dougal thought needed losing in their Eurovision entry for 'My Lovely Horse' in Father Ted - but still a nice albeit different version of the tune.
![The original Dubliners in London to make their first LP, March 1964](https://i2-prod.dublinlive.ie/news/dublin-news/article11747318.ece/ALTERNATES/s615b/CS20370509.jpg)
Ewan MacColl died in 1989 but his musical talents were passed on to his daughter.
See the link yet?
We don't know if Shane MacGowan knew about the song before meeting Kirsty MacColl but we feel it may have been mentioned as they came together to create an iconic Christmas classic.
Kirsty was tragically killed in a boating accident in 2000 but her memory lives on through the perfect festive song that is Fairytale of New York.
![Singers Kirsty MacColl and Shane MacGowan](https://i2-prod.dublinlive.ie/incoming/article19405620.ece/ALTERNATES/s615b/2_I191115_213159_14289361oTextTRMRMMGLPICT000079076602o.jpg)
So MacColl was a Dub or a distant one at that hence why the song is written about Ireland's capital?
Wrong again as one of the main Dubliners informed a crowd at a concert many moons ago.
In a video that can be found on YouTube to break the hearts of future generations who thought the same, Dublin's dearest Luke Kelly was the one who had to break the bad news.
He said: "The next song is a love song, written to a place, not to a woman, but to a place.
"The place is outside of Manchester, it's a place called Salford."
One change of one word in the lyrics has helped fuel the fire of that misconception too.
You know the line: "I smelled the spring on the smoky wind", well that was actually originally penned by Mancunian MacColl as "I smelled a spring on the Salford wind".
This was a line that even got MacColl in trouble with the local council in the area.
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![A group of Anti-Lockdown protesters clash with Gardai) in Grafton Street, Dublin, during Level 5 Covid-19 lockdown. On Saturday, Fabruary 27, 2021, in Dublin, Ireland.](https://i2-prod.dublinlive.ie/incoming/article19959147.ece/ALTERNATES/s615/0_JS229518707.jpg)
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The lyrics were subsequently changed to the former after criticism from Salford council back in the '40s.
We'd love to chop this myth down like an old dead tree, but the sirens, the fire, the canal, the factory, the docks and the train: they all belong to another town that's not Dublin.