|
01
[SR]
I come in by Alford and for tae get a fee,
And there I met wi Jimmy Broon and there we did agree,
Wi a hi-dum-doo, a hi-dum-day, hi-dum-a-diddle-come, a hi-dum-day.
Noo I agreed wi Jimmy Broon in the year o '91,
Tae gae hame and ca his second pair and be his orra man,
Wi a hi-dum-doo, a hi-dum-day, hi-dum-a-diddle-come, a hi-dum-day.
Fan I gaed hame tae the toon, twas on an evening
clear,
Oot aboot the cotter hoose the gardener did appear,
Wi a hi-dum-doo, a hi-dum-day, hi-dum-a-diddle-come, a hi-dum-day.
Noo I'm the maister o the hoose, and that's
the mistress there,
If ye like yer green cheese, ye'll fairly get yer share,
Wi a hi-dum-doo, a hi-dum-day, hi-dum-a-diddle-come, a hi-dum-day.
I gaed tae the stable, my horses for tae view,
Thought they were a dandy pair, a chestnut and a blue,
Wi a hi-dum-doo, a hi-dum-day, hi-dum-a-diddle-come, a hi-dum-day.
Early next mornin, I gaed tae the ploo,
Lang, lang ere lowsin time she fairly gar'd ma rue,
Wi a hi-dum-doo, a hi-dum-day, hi-dum-a-diddle-come, a hi-dum-day.
Ma ploo she wisnae workin weel, she widnae throw
the furr,
The gaffer said, ye better the smiddy tae ging for,
Wi a hi-dum-doo, a hi-dum-day, hi-dum-a-diddle-come, a hi-dum-day.
Fan I gaed hame wi the new ploo she pleased
me unco weel,
I thocht she micht hae better gaen gin she hid a cuttin wheel,
Wi a hi-dum-doo, a hi-dum-day, hi-dum-a-diddle-come, a hi-dum-day.
Ma sang is nearly finished, but I'll no sing
any mair,
If ye feel offended ye can walk ootside the door,
Wi a hi-dum-doo, a hi-dum-day, hi-dum-a-diddle-come, a hi-dum-day.
[applause]
02
As I gaed oot ae summer's nicht, tae hae a wee bit stroll,
Nae thinkin o the oors gan by at I wandered by the toll,
I wisnae ower lang by the toll, fan Corbiesburn I passed,
And fa dae ye think that I met there, but a bonnie wee trampin
lass.
Oh far are ye gaun, gie me yer haun, foo are
ye daein, says I,
Haud up yer heid my bonnie wee lass and dinna look sae shy,
Far dae ye bide? Far dae ye stay? Come tell tae me yer name,
Dae ye think yer faither'd be angry noo if I were tae see
ye hame?
She said that she wis workin doon in the meltin[?]
fields,
Trampin banks o yarn and likin it unco weel,
She said she hid ten bob a wik, but wisnae on full time,
Says I, my lass fit maitters is that soon ye will be mine.
Oh far are ye gaun, gie me yer haun, foo are
ye daein, says I,
Haud up yer heid my bonnie wee lass and dinna look sae shy,
Far dae ye bide? Far dae ye stay? Come tell tae me yer name,
Dae ye think yer faither'd be angry noo if I were tae see
ye hame?
Well noo that we are mairried, and we're blessed
wi bairnies three,
Twa little lassies by oor side and a laddie on wir knee,
I aften stroll doon by the toll fan I think o the days gan
past,
But as lang's I live, I'll ne'er forget ma bonnie wee trampin
lass.
Oh far are ye gaun, gie me yer haun, foo are
ye daein, says I,
Haud up yer heid my bonnie wee lass and dinna look sae shy,
Far dae ye bide? Far dae ye stay? Come tell tae me yer name,
Dae ye think yer faither'd be angry noo if I were tae see
ye hame?
[applause]
03
Fin I was aff to leave the
ploo I said to Fairmer Broon,
The money that I hae workit for will you kindly lay it doon,
This very day I mean to be in Glesca toon by half past three,
I've been a ower lang a gackie in the country.
Wi ma big Kilmarnock bunnet I ran tae catch
the train,
Never will I forget the trick played by Sandy Laing,
Says he "Hie Jock when ye get tae the toon, speir ye
for Katie Bain, ma loon,
She bides at number eichty street in Glesca."
When I got intae Glesca toon, the first young
man I met,
I speired at him right civilly, "Will ye show me eichty
street?"
He says, "Dae ye tak me fur a mug," he clabbered
me on the lug,
"Young man," says he, "ye'll meet yer match
in Glesca."
Wi ma big Kilmarnock bunnet I ran tae catch
the train,
Never will I forget the trick played by Sandy Laing,
Says he "Hie Jock when ye get tae the toon, speir ye
for Katie Bain, ma loon,
She bides at number eichty street in Glesca."
[forgets words]
Then I met a bonny lass dressed in a strippit
frock,
She looked at me and smiled and said, "Hello is that
you, Jock?
Yer big Kilmarnock's awfy plum come oan and staun us a doddie
o rum,
How lang dae ye intend tae bide in Glesca?"
Now the lassie in the strippit frock and her neebur Katie
Bain,
As lang as I live I only hope I never see them again,
They left me wae ma breeks and shirt and a big Kilmarnock
smeared wi dirt,
Rowin through the muckle streets o Glesca.
Wi ma big Kilmarnock bunnet I ran tae catch
the train,
Never will I forget the trick played by Sandy Laing,
Says he "Hie Jock when ye get tae the toon, speir ye
for Katie Bain, ma loon,
She bides at number eichty street in Glesca."
But that's no a' ma troubles noo, I'd plenty
mair beside,
The nicht bein dark, me bein drunk, I landed in the Clyde,
The polis came tae pull me oot, I wis swimmin in ma birthday
suit,
And I got thirty days in klink at Glesca.
Wi ma big Kilmarnock bunnet I ran tae catch
the train,
Never will I forget the trick played by Sandy Laing,
Says he "Hie Jock when ye get tae the toon, speir ye
for Katie Bain, ma loon,
She bides at number eichty street in Glesca."
[applause]
04
It's a traditional song that
goes back to the time when we had Kings and Queens of Scotland.
Ye Highlands, and ye lawlands,
Oh where have ye been?
They have slain the Earl of Murray,
And they've laid him on the green.
He was a braw gallant,
And he rade at the ring;
And the bonny Earl of Murray,
He was the Queen's love.
Oh lang will his lady,
Look frae the castle Doune,
E'er she see the Earl of Murray,
Come sounding through the town!
Now woe betide ye Huntly,
And wherefore did ye sae;
For I bad you bring him wi you,
And forbad you him to slay.
He was a braw callant,
And he rade at the Ring;
And the bonny Earl of Murray,
Oh! He might have been a King.
Long will his lady,
Look frae the castle doon,
Ere she'll see the Earl o Murray
Come soundin through the town .
[applause]
[poor recording quality; hard to make out any songs in this
section]
[still poor sound]
06
At ae Mairtinmas term, the
grieve fae the Drum,
Tappit me an the shooder an speirt gin I'd come,
Tae wirk his first pair, for a winter half year,
Wi a big glaikit horse an a ringel e'ed meer.
There wis plenty o tools an the best o a squad,
Oh I wis niver pitten oot fan the widder wis bad;
There. wis a prize-takkin bull an great thumpers o kye;
An a bonnie young quine in the kitchie forbye.
So we newsed o the nowt and the horse an the
ploo
An he held on the drink till I gie near got fu.
Syne efter a half dizzen glesses o rum,
Like a gowk, I feed hame tae be foreman at Drum.
Noo, I'll niver forget the first nicht at the
Drum;
An Losh, I'd wished that I niver hid come;
There wis hardly a bowster tae haud up ma heid,
An the snores o the loon wid hae wakkent the deid!
Noo, the baillie wis big, he'd a bed til himsel,
An it wis jist as weel, for his feet hid a smell,
Like a press full o cheese, o my sic a hum!
There wis millions o fleas in the chaamer at Drum.
Noo the meer wis a kicker, an files she ran
aff,
An the horse wis as stiff's an aul man wi a staff,
But, Losh, you should hae heard fu the gaffer could bum,
That day he fee'd me tae gang hame tae the Drum!
Syne the milk it wis blue an the porridge wis
thin,
Like a cooard in a battle, aye willin tae rin!
[End of Side A.]
07
… the main purpose of
the event of course was to hear some wonderful songs, and
great singing, and I'm sure we all agree we've done that.
The difficult bit from our point of view is now, but eh, you
know we've had the difficult bit I think perhaps. Anyway,
some tremendous singing. You know it is very difficult to
decide the markings in these particular kind of events, but
it's one of these things that if we don't do the event wouldn't
happen.
Here we go: the first singer we had was Dave
McFadzean. I'm just going to basically comment on the bothy
ballads. Eh, Sheila will talk about the traditional singing
marking; that's the way we split the task between us. Em.
Dave McFadzean sang as the bothy ballad Twa Recruitin Sergeants.
Excellent singing, a nice big voice he always has.
Gordon Easton, the second singer,
a really nice bothy ballad The Courtin in the Stable, with
his inimitable style in a way, but a very good traditional
bothy ballad singing style.
Joe Aitken, as always sings
superbly straight out and did on this event sing Nicky Tams
in that manner.
Stanley Robertson, I think perhaps
he was put off from singing because, what perhaps was more
of a bothy ballad because someone else had already sung it.
Er, his two songs, well his first song really sung as a bothy
ballad, The Shepherd Lad o Rhynie, I perhaps wouldn't call
it a bothy ballad, it's a superb traditional ballad in fact,
and he sang it very well indeed.
Hamish Lipp sang us his er,
well I think both of them were bothy ballads really, he sang
Brose and Airlin's Fine Braes, both of whom are traditional
songs, both of them are traditional bothy ballads. Excellent
singing.
Charles Christie sang Lonely
in the Bothy as a bothy ballad. It is of course a bothy ballad,
but a very recent one. If it had been written 100 years ago,
I don't know how we would judge it in amongst the other bothy
ballads. It is I always think one of the purposes of this
kind of event to encourage people to sing and find some of
the really great older ballads is I think our opinion on that.
Scott Gardiner, the Muckle Gackit
Gype, he's sung, Gackit Gype. He's sung before, I've heard
him sing it, a great song too, and very well sung indeed.
I would just have to confirm with him he's no longer in the
Junior category? So he has to, he's done well enough in the
adult category before anyway! [laughs]
James Ingram, em, The Nicky
Tams, very well sung, perhaps pitched a little high, excellent
singing.
Richard MacDonald sang The Dying
Ploughboy. Again I would say not one of the great bothy ballads,
but he sang it with great feeling, and well sung.
Tom McKean, as I'm sure you
know, is a folklorist and researcher as well, and he's come
up here with a ballad that I haven't actually ever heard sung
before. I know it's known of course in the books, but I think
it's really great to hear old traditional ballads that are
very rare, being given a good hearing. Mistress Greig, or
The Man of Straw, I think it's sometimes called.
Eric Simpson, em, sang The Buchan
Bobby with absolutely tremendous style. Big voice, absolutely
suited that style of that sort of song, and he did it extremely
well.
James Innes, Muckin of Geordie's
Byre. Again, absolutely standard well-known bothy ballad,
extremely well sung.
Frank McNally, Drumdelgie. Now
that used to be sung lots and lots of times, you used to keep
going to bothy ballad competitions, everyone would be singing
Drumdelgie. But of course you couldn't beat it as a bothy
ballad, it's a superb bothy ballad. And he sang it I think
extremely well indeed.
Brian Miller, Rhynie, or Linton-addie,
whatever. A fine bothy ballad, well sung.
Sandy Russell, The Guise o Teugh,
and eh, again, one of the great bothy ballads. His voice was
a wee bit uncertain, that's probably the problem of having
to sing in the middle of the afternoon.
Archie Frame to finish off with
The Big Kilmarnock Bunnet. As he said, Glasgow does have its
bothy ballads, and that's one of them.
And we also had two younger
singers who I passed by there, not intentionally. George Barclay,
who I certainly haven't heard sing before, sang extremely
well, Oor Fairm Toon, and The Pear Tree. Oor Fairm Toon, again,
it's a good bothy ballad and it's really great to see the
younger musicians coming forward.
And Steven Grant, eh I think
the committee, I was told in advance has already decided to
give a certificate for the junior traditional singing [applause].
But obviously the two younger ones were the only ones in their
category, so, and well deserved to get their first placing,
even though there was only one person in those categories.
Now for the first, second and third placings.
For the bothy ballad, in reverse order. Third, Eric Simpson
for The Buchan Bobby [applause]. And as I'm sure you can guess,
with sixteen or more competitors, the markings in many cases
were extremely close, many of them in the upper seventies,
eighties, right through the eighties. In this case it was
eighty-eight points for that song, out of a hundred.
On eighty-nine points, Gordon
Easton for Courtin in the Stable [applause].
And on ninety points, Frank
McNally with Drumdelgie [applause].
[Sheila] Peter's worked through all of them,
I'll just pick out one or two, rather than work through them
all again. And any remarks I've made that are worth I think
passing on. Dave McFadzean, who begins, I think I've said
this in a competition before about Dave. He's got this huge
voice, great big powerful voice, and yet he can sing a tender
love song in a very suitable way. Gentle, a gentle song. And
that's not, that's not easy to do when you've got a great
big voice, so I always eh, commend him for that.
Gordon sang I suppose what's
really a west of Scotland song. So we've got North East singers
singing west of Scotland songs, and we had Archie from the
West singing North East songs, so it's just about quits. They
both sang very well of course. Gordon always loves his songs,
and that's what makes him sing [so well].
I think Belle Stewart would
have been very proud and very happy to hear Joe singing The
Berryfields of Blair as well as he did. And he sang it with
the same twinkle in his eye that eh, we would remember from
Belle. Just of course, he just lives up the road so it's the
same area, he knows what he's singing about. It always helps
if you know what you are singing about.
Stanley [Robertson], well, just
outstanding, no other word for it and a great ballad he sang.
It's good to hear the real old story telling ballads sung
em, in competitions are of course the place to hear them,
if we are to hear the best singers. And I think we've heard
that today.
There's a song that I hadn't
heard before, it's one of the reasons I like competitions
because people come up and they sometimes sing a song I haven't
heard before, and I hadn't heard before The Village Where
I went to School. Em, and it was a nice old-fashioned song
I think and it's got sentiment, but it's not sentimental.
You know some songs can overdo the sentimentality, but that
song managed to be reminiscent and almost nostalgic for the
old days [tape speed problems] sort of syrupy sentiment. A
very nice song, I liked it.
Now Scott, yes just graduated,
and I think he'll do very well, we'll still go on hearing
him I'm sure and he'll be doing very well for years. Oh yes,
my favourite category, the bawdy song. We didn't have too
many of them, but The Dundee Weaver, that's a great song.
And you haven't to be shy when you are singing songs like
that, sing them with a bit of relish. You
know, you are quite enjoying the joke. I just felt he sung
a wee bit fast. Because if you are going to milk the humour
or the comedy out of a song like that, your best to take your
time a wee bit more and not rush through it. Because if you
rush through it, sometimes folk miss the jokes. They miss
the fun bits. So eh, you know, pause for effect now and then.
And don't take it at a gallop.
Yes, I enjoyed hearing Tom's
My Wee Doggie, [from Jane Turriff]; I'm sure she'd have been
delighted. I'm passing over people, not because I think they're
not worth talking about, but Peter's already said something
about them, and I've agreed with what he's said.
There's another song I hadn't
heard before, Bonnie Naver Bay, I liked that as well. Sung
with feeling.
I absolutely loved Frank McNally's
beautiful rendering of I eence Looed a Lass. It's an old ballad,
it's an old story, it's very familiar, but it's just like
hearing it for the first time, it was lovely.
I liked Brian Miller's jaunty
style of The Beggarman. Sometimes sung rather slowly that
song, and he had a nice jaunty style, because after all it
is a humerous song.
I felt The Tramping Lass should be song more like a love song
rather than a cornkister. Just the style didn't quite fit
the song. But eh, good voice, good singing, that was Sandy
Russell. I enjoyed the singing. I enjoyed everybody's singing
really. There hasn't been a single singer today that I haven't
enjoyed listening to very much.
And eh, I loved the action of
??? Murray. So em. In reverse order. Traditional song, third
Frank McNally [applause]. Second, Joe Aitken [applause]. And
first Stanley Robertson [cheers, applause].
back to top |
