That old Woolston Ferry coming towards me,
Coming for to carry me home . . .
If you're ever out in Sholing
And you want to go to town
Don't you go via Bitterne
That's the long way round
Take a trip across the ferry
Take a trip across the sea
And if you're a pedestrian, you can go for free . .
Guess i'll finish off then
On the Woolston Ferry
It doesn't travel very fast
It was never built for comfort
It was built to last
On two steel hauses
Across the river it'll creep
The steel glints in the sunlight
And flops back into the deep
And from the deck of the ferry
What a wonderful sight
All they shipwrights grafting
At Thorneycrofts on the right
On the Woolston Ferry
It doesn't travel very fast
It was never built for comfort
It was built to last
Go and see Lowry's painting
In the art gallery
Of this wonderful relic of a past centruy
When I sing of its construction
You'll be surprised to learn
That the bow going one way
Coming back becomes the stern!
On the Woolston Ferry
It doesn't travel very fast
It was never built for comfort
It was built to last
See the weather-beaten captain
With his weather-beaten tan
He don't wear no gold braid
He's a corporation man
And the captains of the ferry
They're a dying race
Cos there ain't no ex-tram drivers
To go and take their place
On the Woolston Ferry
It doesn't travel very fast
It was never built for comfort
It was built to last
But the floating bridge has had it
They say it's got to go
Cos the motorists don't like it
At 15p a throw
So they build a bridge of concrete
Very modern, very high
But every time I use it
I look down on either side . . .
On the Woolston Ferry
It doesn't travel very fast
It was never built for comfort
It was built to last, to last