The Everly Pregnant Brothers | Hole In The Road | Oyl In T' Ruwad | Music Video

The Everly Pregnant Brothers were formed after a drunken dare by Pete Mckee and Richard Bailey. The success of the dare prompted the pair to draught in a bunch of disparate chaps who had three things in common, the love of beer, ukuleles and having a laugh.

5 Sheffield blokes with ukuleles and a big bloke with a lethal line in lyrics.

The song commemorates Castle Square, Sheffield, UK, as it appeared from 1968-1994, with an open-air below-ground plaza in the middle of a roundabout. While not officially named as such, locals jocularly called it The Hole In The Road. Considered by many to be a failure of 1960s urban planning experiments, it eventually became a self-deprecating symbol of pride for everyday Sheffield folk. The city government, however, came to see it as an embarrassment, and after decades of neglect, crime, and poor sanitation, the hole was filled in 1994 to make way for a light rail station.

The Everly Pregnant Brothers are a working class Sheffield band, and this song is typically sung in a thick North English accent, leading to the phonetic title of “Oyl Int Ruwad” (“Ho-le In T' Row-ad.”) It is perhaps their best-known song and a staple closing number of stage shows.

This song appears on the album ‘'Exile On West Street,’‘ a parody of the Rolling Stones’ 1972 album ‘'Exile On Main Street.’‘ The cover shows the band standing in front of a job placement office.

LYRICS:

When I were a young lad
We went on t' bus to town
Not for nowt secial
We were just lookin round
I walked the same way through town for years
And I tell thi, I never got bored
I walked down through there
I walked through 't oyl in 't ruwad
Through 't oyl in t' ruwad

Well you come down from Fargate with the wind in your hair
You come down t' escalators thi didnt have no stairs
It were too far, for your tired legs, wi your nannan
Walking through t' oyl in t' ruwad

There were Thorntons when you fancied some spice
They had a fish tank in there but them fish didnt look nice
Sharp Cuts would busk on a Saturday
We'd watch em and never get bored
They rocked it down there
When we walked through t' oyl in 't ruwad
Through t' oyl in t' ruwad

Well you walk up from Pond street with the wind in your hair
You come down t escalators thi didnt have no stairs
It were too far, for your tired legs, wi your nannan
Walkin through t' oyl in t' ruwad
Through t' oyl in t' ruwad
Hey hey
Through t' oyl in t' ruwad