No Bigg mistake here, it’s what the songwriter meant
‘GANNIN’ alang the Scotswood Road...’
There are few lines which have been sung more frequently or as loud in Newcastle over the years.
So when it came to revamping the Bigg Market, having the words to the Blaydon Races inscribed on the new benches seemed like a no-brainer.
But the spelling of the phrase is causing confusion for some. Instead of ‘gannin’ alang’, the words are spelled ‘ganalang.’
But that’s no mistake. In fact, that spelling is taken directly from the earliest known written version of the song.
The Blaydon Races is the creation of George Ridley, who died aged just 29 in 1864, and was first performed at Balmbra’s Music Hall, just off the Bigg Market.
Local historian Dave Harker was asked by business improvement district NE1 to provide the words and he went right back to the original source material.
The Geordie heritage expert said: “The words I supplied for the Bigg Market redevelopment are the earliest written version of the song. Of course songs change over time, especially something like the Blaydon Races which has been around over 150 years.
“But the first written version was in a songbook published by Thomas Allan.
“He would buy up songs from Geordie songwriters and purchased the rights to the Blaydon Races from George Ridley when he was in very poor health at the end of his life.
“It was first published in 1863 and it was written as ‘ganalang’, not ‘gannin’ alang’ as you might expect today.”