1980
A year of unemployment and cold war harshness
1980
And England emerging from winters of harshness
The unrestrained era of disco was done
A computerised age had begun
And in the North East corner of Britain (sung in Mandarin)
An exciting new chapter had been carefully written
The future arrived on a hot day in August
With a new bridge over the Tyne
Primary colours and geometric lines intertwined
Underneath an iconic black and yellow sign
Metro
Tyne and Wear goes electro
Twenty hours a day from South Hylton to Whitley Bay
Hurtling like an arrow
From Tynemouth down to Jarrow
In the baking heat and the driving sleet
It’s alreet
Tyne and Wear Metro
Subterranean yo-yo
A flash of chameleon yellow
Metro
And the escalators were the first I’d ever seen
Talk about a stairway to heaven
So steep and so high and so bright and so clean
You see me going to Byker to roam on the street
Or going to Whitley to lie on the beach
Or at St James watching a game
Got a little yellow ticket just in case they check us
The chavas run away from inspectors
I’m on the Metro all of the time
But you won’t catch me with no £20 fine
Sample our famous mackem wit
With the musings of the gadgy in the Sunderland kit
Or the Magpies disembarking at St James Park
Into a station which pulses with anticipation
My mate Chelsea was named and shamed
For failing to pay for her ticket
Cos she gave them her name when the guard person came
It’s her naughty Nexus secret
Tyne and Wear Metro
Wallsend goes Latino
Sixty colourful stations in useful locations
And canny crack from the get-go
So why don’t we go Metro
Life in extremity, start at St James,
Progression, regression, so many changes,
Rolling stock, chatter on the platform
Takes me back
High level clarity, bring back the memory,
Take me to the city, to the coast
To the skyways,
Take me to it all and the highways
Ride the M-train,
Take me home.
And sometimes you just have to sit and listen
And lend the ear that wipes the tear away
Haymarket, Monument, Manors, Byker, Chillingham Road, Walkergate, Wallsend, Hadrian Park,
Howdon, Percy Main, Meadowell, North Shields, Tynemouth, Cullercoats, Whitley bay, Monkseaton,
Shiremoor, Northumberland Park, Palmersville, Benton, South Gosforth, Ilford Road, Jesmond,
Haymarket
Metro
All above the love train,
These carriages are Cupid’s domain,
All aboard the love train.
And I called him my Metro man
He had rain spattered glasses
When he boarded at Byker
I didn’t know there would be space
The decision to choose a seat can change your life indelibly
An yet he squeezed into the carriage
And squeezed into my heart
Was it fate or was it chance that brought him
To South Shields on the last train home?
I’ve seen it all before
The break-ups, the make-ups
The headaches and heartaches
Our eyes met at Monument Station
But I had a one-way ticket to the States
But she asked me on a date
I went and it was great
And I ripped up my ticket
And stayed here.
Metro
Subterranean yo-yo
It’s a chance for pioneer
In the heart of Tyne and Wear.
Tyne and Wear Metro
Metro goes retro
In the baking heat and the driving sleet.
It’s alreet.
Metro
I always wanted a solo
Metro
I guess we’re singing a trio
Metro
Singing in my falsetto
Let’s go Metro
Tyne and Wear Metro