Here is another song from my archives. It’s a song from the musical I did with Tom Kelly, Steel Town. As we were writing, it was always planned to stage the show at the Customs House, South Shields. For obvious reasons I also wanted to take it (back) to Consett. One day I drove out there to drop some information at the Empire Theatre. I visited one of my favourite spots. I used to love looking down to Hownsgill Plate Mill with the railway tracks encircling it like a huge train set. Of course, it was all gone but I was a little put out by what I found at that spot. Two stainless steel sculptures that had nothing to do with the Steel Works. I called Tom and described the scene and out of that conversation came this song “I Will Go Back”. The line “when the lines are gone, you’ll find me there” refers to the Hownsgill railway tracks.

The song is sung by Darren Ali. In the musical Darren plays a young guy trying to escape the Steel Works into the music business. Basically me!. Darren contacts me every now and then claiming to be Steve Thompson which is a little confusing (for both of us). When we recorded the song Darren couldn’t get the middle eight. The section that ends in “when you reach for the sky”. So I sang it. I always found it quite charming that the young guy sings the song about going back and the older guy takes the middle eight and then we sing the final choruses together in harmony. Darren is a filmmaker now.

I will go back someday. When the lines are gone, you’ll find me there.