"Blaydon Races" is a famous Geordie folk song written in the 1800s by Geordie Ridley, deriving from music hall. It is regarded by many as the unofficial anthem of North-East England and is frequently sung by supporters of Newcastle United. Blaydon itself is a small town on Tyneside. Look up Geordie in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Folk music, in the original sense of the term, is music by and of the people. ... Events and Trends Beginning of the Napoleonic Wars (1803 - 1815). ... Music Hall is a form of British theatrical entertainment which reached its peak of popularity between 1850 and 1960. ... An anthem is a choral composition to an English religious text sung in church services. ... North East England is one of the regions of England. ... Football chants are repetitive chants generated by the crowd at football (soccer) matches, particularly professional ones. ... Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional football team based in Newcastle upon Tyne, nicknamed the Magpies, who currently play in the FA Premier League. ... Blaydon or Blaydon on Tyne is a town in the North East of England near Gateshead. ... Tyneside is a conurbation in northern England, covering part of the area of Tyne and Wear. ...

"Allan's Tyneside Songs" of 1891 quotes the lyrics (in heavy dialect) from the author's manuscript as follows:

Aw went to Blaydon Races, 'twas on the ninth of Joon,
Eiteen hundred an' sixty-two, on a summer's efternoon;
Aw tyuk the 'bus frae Balmbra's, an' she wis heavy laden,
Away we went alang Collingwood Street, that's on the road to Blaydon.

(chorus)

Oh lads, ye shud only seen us gannin',
We pass'd the foaks upon the road just as they wor stannin';
Thor wes lots o' lads an' lasses there, all wi' smiling faces,
Gawn alang the Scotswood Road, to see the Blaydon Races.

We flew past Airmstrang's factory, and up to the "Robin Adair",
Just gannin' doon te the railway bridge, the 'bus wheel flew off there.
The lasses lost their crinolines off, an' the veils that hide their faces,
An' aw got two black eyes an' a broken nose in gan te Blaydon Races.

(chorus)

When we gat the wheel put on away we went agyen,
But them that had their noses broke they cam back ower hyem;
Sum went to the Dispensary an' uthers to Doctor Gibbs,
An' sum sought out the Infirmary to mend their broken ribs.

(chorus)

Noo when we gat to Paradise thor wes bonny gam begun;
Thor was fower-an-twenty on the 'bus, man, hoo they danced an' sung;
They called on me to sing a sang, aw sung them "Paddy Fagan",
Aw danced a jig an' swung my twig that day aw went to Blaydon.

(chorus)

We flew across the Chain Bridge reet into Blaydon toon,
The bellman he was callin' there, they call him Jackie Broon;
Aw saw him talkin' to sum cheps, an' them he was pursuadin'
To gan an' see Geordy Ridley's concert in the Mechanics' Hall at Blaydon.

(chorus)

The rain it poor'd aw the day an' myed the groons quite muddy,
Coffy Johnny had a white hat on - they war shootin' "Whe stole the cuddy."
There wes spice stalls an' munkey shows an' aud wives selling ciders,
An' a chep wiv a hapenny roond aboot, shootin' "Now, me boys, for riders."

(chorus)

The song is now usually sung with slightly more modern language. The modern chorus would typically be:

Oh! me lads, ye shud a' seen us gannin,
Passin' the folks upon the road just as they were stannin.
Thor wis lots o' lads and lasses there, all wi smiling faces
Gannin alang the Scotswood Road to see the Blaydon Races.

Ridley sang the song at a concert in Balmbra's Music Hall on 5 June 1862. It is likely that on this occasion the song ended with the exhortation to see Ridley's show on the 9th, and that the final verse was added for this later performance. Although the account of the trip to Blaydon is a fiction, the heavy rain and missing cuddy (horses) were reported in the local press. June 5 is the 156th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (157th in leap years), with 209 days remaining. ... 1862 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ...

Airmstrang's factory was the engineering works at Elswick. The Robin Adair was a pub on Scotswood Road. Paradise is a suburb of Newcastle. Sir William George Armstrong William George Armstrong, 1st Baron Armstrong (November 26, 1810 – December 27, 1900) was an English industrialist, the effective founder of the Armstrong Whitworth manufacturing empire. ... Elswick is a ward of the city of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England, in the western part of the borough, bordering the river Tyne. ... For notes on some individual UK pubs, see Notable United Kingdom public houses. ... Paradise is a suburb of Newcastle upon Tyne. ...

The Blaydon Race is also a 5.7 mile athletics race from Newcastle to Blaydon that is steeped in local tradition. It takes place on 9 June every year and starts off with the singing of The Blaydon Races -- with the words the basis for the race.

The actual race was the inspiration for Dr James Dewar of Blaydon harriers [1], who organised the first 24 starting in 1981. In the early years, the race attracted around 250 entries, but by 2004 a record 4,000 peple take part with more than 600 other hopefuls usually rejected.

The 25th aniversary of the race was run by the Blaydon Harriers in 2005 as the "Nike Jim Dewar Blaydon Race" in memory of Jim, who died in June 2004 just 2 days after the running of the 24th event.