LL-L: "Songs" LOWLANDS-L, 22.JAN.2000 (04) [S]

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From: Sandy Fleming [sandy at fleimin.demon.co.uk]
Subject: LL-L: "Nursery Songs" LOWLANDS-L, 21.JAN.2000 (01) [S]

For the nou (an a guid while ti come, A wad think) A'm wirkin on a
collection o sangs an poetry edited bi masel for ma ScotsteXt wabsteid, fae
the muckle collection o auld beuks A'v built up in leukin for stuff ti pit
up on the site. It'll be aa modular, as A see it the nou, wi ae melody a
page an ae lyric a page, wi them aa cleekin thegither whatever wey's nott
(ti gie ye a idea, A hiv five aathegither disteenct vairsions o the lyrics
ti "Green Growes the Rashes", three o "Auld Lang Syne" wi three different
tuins it's tradeetionally sung till, twae sets o lyrics for "Jenny Nettles"
an kenna hou mony o "Dainty Davie" - thir'll aa be linked, set, crossed an
cleekit (div ye ken whaur that comes fae?!) sae's ye can finnd aa the wirds
o a tuin ye like, an aa the tuins ti words ye like, an there'll be indexes
for seekin oot aa the nursery rhymes, aa the sangs for singin bi men,
weemin, couples &c &c.

That's the veesion, onywey!

This is aa ti be edited inti a form modern Scots spaekers can uize (A'm no
talkin aboot academics or enthusiasts here!), an some sangs hae their ain
speecial deeficulties in this respect, sae whan A'm ficklt A'll be pittin
them up here on Lowlands-L for help on them. A howp A can mak this mutually
benefeecial - that is, A'll pit up the hale sang an melody here, no just the
bits A'm askin aboot, sae's the Lawlanders here can see them in advance
(likely faur in advance!) o them kythin on ScotsteXt.

Mind that aa this stuff is oot o copyricht an's for the free uise o aabody,
baith the nou an whan it kythes on the Wab (this is true o aathing on
ScotsteXt, forby mibbie the Joe Corrie stories that's thare bi permeession).

While A'll be axin speceefic questions, A'd be interestit in ony general
comments on the Scots - espeecially onything aboot the orthography that's
giein ye a sair heid! A'm no ettlin at pittin up ma ain favoured
orthography, but whatever maist native spaekers wad be happy wi readin (gien
that it haes tae be a mensfu seestem - no aye the same thing!).

Onywey, this mailin is for ti pit furth a question aboot the Scots vairsion
o "Pop goes the Weasel" that A'm ficklt wi the nou. A dinna ken if the
tuin's kent aff o this wee island, sae here it in abc format (if ye hae guid
muisic saftware it can likely read this format an play it or turn it inti
sheet muisic for ye (copy it inti a plain text file wi extension ".abc" an
import it ti yer muisic saftware) - if no, see the abc hamepage at
http://www.gre.ac.uk/~c.walshaw/abc/ for instructions on hou ti read it bi
ee or dounload saftware the like):

X:1
T:Pop goes the Wheasel
M:C
K:F
F>A G>B A>c F|F>A G>B A F|F>A G>B A>c F|f G>B A F

An here the words hou A'm attlin at pittin them on ScotsteXt:

Roond aboot the parritch pat,
Fechtin for the theevil,
That's the wey the money goes,
Pop goes the wheasel!

Ma wee boy's a nice wee boy,
Your wee boy's a deevil,
That's the wey the money goes,
Pop goes the wheasel!

Ye see that the thing here is that while the verse is oreeginal Scots, the
chorus is juist a macaronic translate o the chorus o the English vairsion.
It's no aesy ti pit it inti richt Scots wi the eediom no translatin weel. A
ken Burns writes "As open pussy's mortal foes//Whan pop! she starts afore
their nose" - it's the eediomatic English uise o "goes" A'm ficklt wi.
Naither "gaes", "gangs" nor "gauns" seems ti fit in wi this eediom.

A'm wonderin if onybody haes heard a naitral Scots vairsion o the chorus
onywhare, or could even think on a naitral wey o translatin it? If no, A'm
thinkin A'm juist gaun a hae ti pit it up in macaronic form!

roond aboot: all around
parritch pat: porridge pot
fechtin: fighting
theevil: stirrer
wey: way
wheasel: weasel
wee: little
deevil: devil

Sandy
http://scotstext.org
http://www.fleimin.demon.co.uk

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