Tape 1994.066 transcription

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01
[Fiddle music, singing in the background.]

Red sails in the sunset
Way out in the sea
O red sails in the sunset
I'm waiting. [laughs.]

Every day I feel blue
Red sails in the sunset
I'm waiting on you.

[Followed by tunes on fiddle and piano accordion and bodhran.]

02
Have you ever been in love
Or had yourself ????
I'd rather be in jail ??? than be in love again
The girl I loved was beautiful I have you ought to know
That I met her in the garden where the praties grow

She was just the kind of girl I wanted
[too faint]

That I met her in the garden where the praties grow

03
We've got an action packed evening. This is the return visit, because Shetland artists went down to Banff and Buchan and really had a very enjoyable time. And as I say this is the return visit. I would like to welcome the artists from Banff and Buchan up to Shetland and to express the hope that they have thoroughly enjoyed their visit here to Shetland.

This event ladies and gentlemen, could not have happened, or not have taken place without the support of the Lerwick Folk & Blues Club, who have been supporting the Arts Trust over this past weekend. I would also like to thank all the local artists for all the work that they have done to make this event successful. In particular I would like to thank Mike Batty because I think he over the weekend has been a real trouper.

Shetland and Banff and Buchan really have a lot in common, the fishin, a unique dialect,
a pride in its culture and its heritage and a strong sense of community identity.

I would very much like to thank the audience for coming along tonight, to thank our sponsors and also to thank all the artists. I am sure that you will thoroughly enjoy tonight, it is very much Banff & Buchan's night, I hope you enjoy it, I hope you have a lovely evening. And without further ado I would like to introduce your MC, your compere for tonight, from Banff and Buchan, Sheila MacDonald.

[Sheila Macdonald:]
Well I'm standing up here with a wee bit of a tear in my eye because this is our final fling in Shetland. It's been a year since the Shetlanders came down to Banff and Buchan and spent a week with us and had a thoroughly good time and Shetland and all its folk have reciprocated our visit very well and we've had a wonderful time.

First of all we're going to start with a threesome who have more or else just joined up during this tour. Very mixed cultures shall I say: we've got Tom McKean, who is an American, who is our musician in residence at Banff & Buchan District Council. We have Elizabeth Stuart, who is a member of the travelling family the Stuart's of Fetterangus, commonly known as Fishie. That's the thing about the North East, whatever you think a place is called it's nae really called that at all. And we've also got Gordon Eason, from Tyre

So I'd like to welcome The Buchanites, as I have named them. Come up here and start this evening off. I should add that this is the Sandie Shaw of Buchan here, except that Sandie Shaw was in bare feet, Elizabeth likes to play in her stocking feet (laughs).

04-05
[Piano music.]

06
Well I saw a few taes tappin there. So we're hittin the right spot. One of the finest things about the North East of Scotland is actually the oral tradition. I was heard to be saying yesterday it was the hot air that came oot o Buchan, but it is actually meant to be the oral tradition.

One of the finest young singers to be heard in the North East is going to entertain you next. He's a young man who has won many bothy ballad competitions at Strichen, Keith and at Aberdeen Alternative Festival, and I've missed one, Muchty? No, which one have I missed? It'll nae matter, he might even win Shetland if they ever start the bothy ballads up here. Anyway, this young lad's from Mill?? and I would like you to welcome George Barclay please. (applause).

07
I'll say a poem first: 'Far there's life.'

Fit like are ye today, says I
Tae a frien I've kint since days gone by
Well now he says, as he dra's his breath
I've been is file at the door o death
Ye min last year I took the flu
I'm only getting the back o it noo
An it's takin a gey sair pick ye see
For I've landed noo wi a cockle ee
An there's inflammation in ma jints
An I canna bend doon tae tie my pints
An if I try ma bubbly nose begins tae squirt like a gairden hose
An it affects ma peer aul heid an it lies on ma shooders like a lump o leid
So ye'll see ma loon, as he dra's his breath, jist fit it's like at the door o death
A'm bothered files wi ma watter tae. An it's twenty times a day ye see
O it's nae neen handy but it's nae neen sair
Ye ken oor bathroom's up the stair
Ma bools agen ma mooth for a file so I doot at's back tae the caster ile
An at itsel's nae fine ye ken, for ye nivver got peace for a minute an aye
It's like at ??? an yer up at stair like a mountain goat
An ye speir at me 'fit like'! At's feel, ye can surely see that I'm nae neen weel
Ah, but there's nithin wrang wi yer sight says I, as he winks at a deem as she's passin by

08
I'll sing a song noo, 'The Pear Tree.'

Now twa young lads belong this nation
Far fae being their destination
Went out one night as I have told, to for have a midnight stroll

Wi a hidum, hodum, tumalike-a-daisie, tumalike-a-daisie, wi a tuma, luma low

Now on their wey wis spied a pear tree
For pears they grew as fine as could be
For a pair or pears we felt inclined, so up this pear tree we did climb

Wi a hidum, hodum, tumalike-a-daisie, tumalike-a-daisie, wi a tuma, luma low

Now up this pear tree we got landed
Up this pear tree we got stranded
Twas no the pears that caught oor ee, twas a lad and a lass lyin in a low tree

Wi a hidum, hodum, tumalike-a-daisie, tumalike-a-daisie, wi a tuma, luma low

Now this young man began to embrace her
This young man began to unlace her
Put doon his coat to protect he goon, fan all the pears came a rummelin doon

Wi a hidum, hodum, tumalike-a-daisie, tumalike-a-daisie, wi a tuma, luma low

Now this young man looked up in wonder
Were belted doon the pears like thunder
He whippit up his lass and awa did flee and he left his coat lyin in a low tree

Wi a hidum, hodum, tumalike-a-daisie, tumalike-a-daisie, wi a tuma, luma low

Now the owner o the coat did enquire
The owner o the coat wis oor desire
But the owner o the coat we nivver found out, so we got a bloody fine coat for nowt

Wi a hidum, hodum, tumalike-a-daisie, tumalike-a-daisie, wi a tuma, luma low

Now aye young lads far ere you may be
Never do a courtin in a low pear tree
For if ye div it'll spoil yer fun fan all the pears come a rummelin down

Wi a hidum, hodum, tumalike-a-daisie, tumalike-a-daisie, wi a tuma, luma low

09
I'll say another poem noo. It's aboot is farmer, he bought his first tractor from a traveller called WPDI.

Ae day, ma neighbour Geordie Broon says, Aye, aye, min, ye're steppin roon
A'm on the look oot man says I, for yon chiel, WPDI
Ma horses baith are wearin deen, I'm nae sae ??? as a micht o been
A tractor, faith, ah'll need tae buy, for here comes WPDI.

Tae him I laid ma troubles doon
Mair grun tae ploo, and faith, a loon gets twa man's wages noo, says I
That's true, says WPDI.
A tractor then we spoke aboot, it's jist the thing tae help me oot
The price is low, performance high
It's the goods, says WPDI.

I quizzed him up, I quizzed him doon
He'd a the answers richt, yon loon
And faith persuaded me tae buy frae neen but WPDI.

Weel, weel it's bocht, but tak yer tent afore I pay a blinkin cent
Ye'll hae tae let me see the wey tae drive though, WPDI
The thing arrived an, man o man, I thocht it wis lookin grand
Braw pint and rubber tyres, forbye, and there stood WPDI.

He then and there began to show the wey to drive baith fast and slow
I said I wisnae feart tae try, good man says WPDI
So up I got upon a seat, he showed me far tae put ma feet
Ah wis so confident that I says, here goes then, WPDI.

A whirr, a jerk, a jump a crock, weel god a near wis ower the bank
I swear she lowpit near four feet high an yelled for WPDI
But we were aff in sik a fling, he could nae dae a blasted thing
But lauched until he could hardly stan, I'm aff en mens
Yer daein gran.

I grippit on like grimmest death, but lord she nivver drew a breath
But doon the parks and through the sheep she even played
Hop, skip and leap
Ower fences, hedges, ditches wide, takin athin in her stride
Through the burn and up the bank as if she'd been a blasted tank.

Eh neep shed door's a total wreck, the only hale thing left's the sneck
The corner o the mall's away the reef torn aff the sheltie's sta
The pig-sty's jist a heap o bricks, the hen hoose fit for mornin sticks
Sheep troughs and gates and stable pail, barras and cairts she knocked tae hell.

The sweat wis dreepin aff ma broo, bit I a faced and faced as she flew
I tried athin as I could see, but evil seemed to dance wi glee
And haimmered on, lord she wis fleet, ah nivver hid such ???? a seat
Maist ever ither bit was numb, I thocht ma hinmaist oor was come.

But yet she nivver slackened pace, she chased en out twice roon the place
Astonished bull took till his heels and ran as gan a thoosan deals
Wir sittin on his streaket tail, he's jabbin in a reed hait nail
He heeded hame, let oot a roar and bolted for the kitchen door.

E dog had took a backward look, ran hell for leather roon the neuk
An far he ran I dinnae ken, he wisnae foun for days on ayen
An roon an roon a aifterneen, she pelted till the ile gid daen
Eh hinmaist michty jump she took and boggit in the far east neuk.

I hardly could believe ma een, tae see her mad careers daen
At thing o wheels, and pipes and nuts, I hope she bust her bloomin guts
So there ye've stoppit, and there ye'll staun, ye ill misbegotten deevil spawn
Ye ugly, thrawn, pig-heided brute, I'll gie ye nae haun tae heuk ye oot.

Gen ye should staun a thoosan year, and rot and roost and disappear
Fae worldly ken and hame I'll heid and summon WPDI.

Thank you.

10
[SMcD] Weel, weel, that wis fine. Now for something completely different. A music experience from Longside. If you've ever been to Longside it's definitely an experience, and I would love to introduce two good friends of mine, Peter Hocky, the one who's all poshed up, he's had a hair cut, and also Jim Green. Big hand please.

11
She says do three sets, that was a shock, we've only practised one. Start off with some straightforward reels, just to loosen the old fingers up.

[Reels. Flute and Drum.]

12
Right, play, play a slow tune which is absolutely nothing at all to do with Banff and Buchan, I'm afraid, but neither do I, apart from the fact that I live there. It's a tune called O' Carolan's Draught.

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