Notts Music Archive
A history of groups and musicians from Nottingham, the County and the wider East Midlands region in the mid to late 20th Century
A song about a road in Basford, Nottingham from 1973. Sounds a little like The Move circa Blackberry Way. Vocalist Johnathan Gill was actually from Derby and had been in the sixties group “The Gill Ellis Four”. He later worked with Nottingham school teacher Ken Humphreys who wrote this song which must have had something to do with his family background.
Isandula Road, New Basford, with the old police station which stood on the corner, was named after the Battle of Isandlwana which took place in 1879 during the Zulu War. The song certainly conjures up the days of the brewery and railway line in the early seventies. More about their story another time.
Isandula Road Lyrics
Isandula road by the factory
smell the beer from the brewery
not much cheer for the people living here
Isandula road by the railway line
noisy trains run all the time
not much cheer for the people living here
Isandula
dating back a hundred years or more
what is it about the street
makes me stop and turn my feet
back again to Isandula road
Isandula road where your grandma lives
she can see all the world go by
not much cheer for your granny living here
Isandula road by the factory
smell the beer from the brewery
not much cheer for the people living here
Isandula
dating back a hundred years or more
what is it about the street
makes me stop and turn my feet
back again to Isandula road
Isandula
dating back a hundred years or more
what is it about the street
makes me stop and turn my feet
back again to Isandula road
Jonathon Gill / Ken Humphreys