LL-L "Songs" 2003.03.07 (05) [E/S]

[Lowlands-L]

======================================================================
L O W L A N D S - L * 07.MAR.2003 (05) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
http://www.lowlands-l.net * admin at lowlands-l.net * Encoding: Unicode UTF-8
Rules & Guidelines: http://www.lowlands-l.net/rules.htm
Posting Address: lowlands-l at listserv.linguistlist.org
Server Manual: http://www.lsoft.com/manuals/1.8c/userindex.html
Archive: http://listserv.linguistlist.org/archives/lowlands-l.html
=======================================================================
You have received this because you have been subscribed upon request.
To unsubscribe, please send the command "signoff lowlands-l" as message
text from the same account to listserv at listserv.linguistlist.org or
sign off at http://linguistlist.org/subscribing/sub-lowlands-l.html.
=======================================================================
A=Afrikaans Ap=Appalachian B=Brabantish D=Dutch E=English F=Frisian
L=Limburgish LS=Lowlands Saxon (Low German) N=Northumbrian
S=Scots Sh=Shetlandic V=(West)Flemish Z=Zeelandic (Zeêuws)
=======================================================================


From: PPMAC56 at aol.com <PPMAC56 at aol.com>
Subject: LL-L "Songs" 2003.03.06 (07) [E/S]

From: Peter McLean PPMAC56 at aol.com

To: Andrys Onsman <Andrys.Onsman at CeLTS.monash.edu.au>
and R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>

Dear Ron and Andrys,

Subject: Singers

Just a wee correction. Dougie MacLean is Scottish, I think it's Perth he was
born, bred and buttered in. He's one of my wife's favourite singers. And am
I right in thinking that the group you refer to should be Boys of the Lough,
or is there another group I haven't heard of called Boys from the Loch?

Another couple of singers to look out for, if you want to hear Scots songs,
are Isle St. Clair and Adam McNaughton. Isla has a beautiful voice, and Adam
can often be very humorous. I especially like his musical rendition of
Macbeth. (Any actors reading this - I mean the Scottish play).

Have a Scotastic time, both of you.

Peter McLean.
PPMAC56 at aol.com

----------

From: Andrys Onsman <Andrys.Onsman at CeLTS.monash.edu.au>
Subject: LL-L "Songs" 2003.03.06 (07) [E/S]

To: Reinhard
Re: Songs

Ach nae man, ye're a polyglot! Ye're never unner ithers!

D'ye not ken as wee Dougie is a Scot? Lookit
<http://www.dougiemaclean.com/>

An y'r ego's nae sa tim'rous ;-)

guidwil,
Andrys

----------

From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com
Subject: Songs

Thanks, Peter an Andrys!

Peter:
> is Scottish ...

Andrys:
> D'ye not ken as wee Dougie is a Scot? Lookit
> <http://www.dougiemaclean.com/>

Awricht, awricht! Shame on masel than!

Andrys:
> Ach nae man, ye're a polyglot!

A truist this is a guid thing.

Regairds,
Reinhard/Ron

----------

From: Sandy Fleming [sandy at scotstext.org]
Subject: "Songs"

> From: Global Moose Translations <globalmoose at t-online.de
<mailto:globalmoose at t-online.de>>
> Subject: LL-L "Songs" 2003.03.04 (05) [E]
>
> I know a different, presumably older version of this song, as sung by
> Gordeanna McCulloch, under the title "Be Kind Tae Yer Nainsel". It has its
> own tune, different form "Scots Wha Hae Wi' Wallace Bled". I have included
> the blurb from the record.
>
> "Collected from popular tradition in Aberdeenshire by Rev. James Duncan
> early this (the 20th) century. A version much like this
> presumably inspired
> Lady Nairn's song of the same title written in 1798. The 'land o the leal'
> means the land of the loyal or faithful (heaven). The song appears in Folk
> Music Journal 1966 (London, EFDSS)."
>
> Chorus:
> I am wearin awa, John,
> I am wearin awa, John,

I didn't know this was sung to this tune!

The tune to "Scots Wha Hae" is known as "Tuttie Taitie"
/'tV?I 'te:?I/ from the line "Tuttie taitie tae the drum"
in the Jacobite song "Here's to the King, Sir":

HERE'S TO THE KING, SIR.

Here's to the king, sir,
Ye ken wha I mean, sir,
An to every honest man,
That will do't again!

Fill, fill your bumpers high,
Drain, drain your glesses dry,
Oot upon him, fy! oh, fy!
That winna do't again!

Here's to the chieftains
O the Scots Hieland clans!
They hae duin it mair than ance,
An will dae't again.

When you hear the trumpet soond
Tuttie taitie to the drum,
Up your swords, an doun your guns,
An to the rogues again!

Here's to the king o Swede,
Fresh laurels croun his heid!
Fy on every sneakin blade,
That winna do't again!

But to mak things richt nou,
Him that drinks maun fecht too,
To shew his hert's upricht too,
An that he'll do't again!

("Tuttie taitie" is a sound made in imitation of the trumpet).

As well as "Scots Wha Hae", Burns wrote this drinking song
to the tune:

LANDLADY, coont the lawin,
The day is near the dawin;
Ye're a' blinnd drunk, boys,
An I'm but jolly fou.

Hey tutti, taiti,
Hou tutti, taiti,
Hey tutti, taiti,
Wha's fou nou?

Cog, an ye were aye fou,
Cog, an ye were aye fou,
I wad sit an sing to you
If ye were aye fou.

Weel mey ye a' be!
Ill mey we never see!
God bless the King, boys,
An the companie!

(lawin = tab, account; dawin = dawning;
fou = drunk, full; aye = always;
cog = a kind of drinking vessel).

It's now also traditional to sing Alexander Montgomerie's
chivalric song "Hey, Nou the Day Daws" to this tune (the
following is my modernised version):

Hey! nou the day daws,
The jolly cock craws,
Nou shroods the shaws
Throu Natur anone.
The thistle-cock cries
On lovers wha lies,
Nou skaills the skies:
The nicht is near gone.

The fields owerflowes
Wi gowans that growes
Whaur lilies like lowe is,
A' rid as the rone.
The turtle that true is,
Wi notes that renews,
Her pairty pursues:
The nicht is near gone.

Nou hairts wi hinds,
Conform tae their kinds,
Hie turses their tines,
On grund whaur they groan.
Nou hurcheons, wi hares,
Aye passes in pairs;
Whilk duly declares
The nicht is near gone.

The saeson excels
Throu sweetness that smells:
Nou Cupid compels
Oor herts echone.
On Venus wha wakes,
Tae muse on oor makes,
Syne sing, for their sakes:
"The nicht is near gone."

A' courageous knichts
Against the day dichts
The breest plate that bricht is,
Tae fecht wi their fone.
The staned steed stamps
Throu courage an cramps,
Syne on the land lamps:
The nicht is near gone.

The freiks on fields
That wicht wapins wields
Wi sheenin bricht shields
As Titan in throne;
Stiff spears in reists,
Ower cursors' crests,
Are brak on their breests:
The nicht is near gone.

Sae hard are their hits,
Some sweys, some sits,
An some perforce flits
On grund while they grone.
Syne grooms that gay is,
On blancs that brays,
Wi swords assays:
The nicht is near gone.

A song of this name sung in Edinburgh is mentioned much
earlier than Montgomerie, however, and coupled with Burns's
fictitious claim that this tune is really old enough to have
been sung by The Bruce at Bannockburn, it's often stated to
be the oldest known Scots tune still known. However, there's
no reason to believe that Montogomerie's song was actually
sung to the tune of Tuttie Taitie.

The oldest Scots tune still sung whose pedigree can be
verified is "Green Growes the Rashes", which appeared in
"The Lute Book" (Gordon of Straloch, 1627, 28 or 29). This
tender, thoughtful, lilting (but not too slow!) tune is
still very commonly sung and is the one Scots tune
practically every Scots speaker knows (at least it seems
so in my area). The subject is always sex, and the title
refers to the preference of country couples for bedding
down amongst rushes for this purpose.

Here are a few versions from Herd's Collection (1776):

Green Growes the Rashes.

GREEN growes the rashes-O,
Green growes the rashes-O:
The feather bed is no sae saft
As a bed amang the rashes.

Chorus:
We're a' dry wi drinking o't,
We're a' dry wi drinking o't;
The parson kissed the fiddler's wife,
An he coudna preach for thinkin o't.
Green growes, &c.

The down bed, the feather bed,
The bed amang the rashes-O;
Yet a' the beds is no sae saft
As the bellies o the lassies-O.

Green Growes the Rashes.

PEGGY.

MY JOCKY blyth, for what thoo's duin,
There is nae help nor mendin;
For thoo haes jogged me oot o tune,
For a' thy fain pretendin.
My mither sees a change on me,
For my complexion dashes,
An this, alace! haes been wi thee
Sae late amang the rashes.

JOCKY.

My PEGGY, what I've said I'll dae,
To free thee frae her scoulin;
Come then an let us buckle tae,
Nae langer let's be fuilin;
For her content I'll instant wed,
Since thy complexion dashes;
An then we'll try a feather-bed,
It's safter than the rashes.

PEGGY.

Then, JOCKY, since thy love's sae true,
Let mither scoul, I'm easy:
Sae lang's I live I ne'er shall rue
For what I've duin to please thee.
An there's my hand I'se ne'er complain;
Oh! weel's me on the rashes:
Whene'er thoo likes I'll do't again,
An a fig for a' their clashes.

(jogged me oot o tune: got me pregnant;
dash: to have markings;
buckle tae = get married;
clash: gossip)

Here's the "standard" version by Burns:

GREEN growes the rashes O,
Green growes the rashes O;
The sweetest oors that e'er I spend,
Is spent amang the lasses O!

There's nocht but care on every han',
In every oor that passes O;
What signifies the life o man,
An't werena for the lasses O.

The warly race mey riches chase,
An riches still mey flee them O;
An tho at last they catch them fast,
Their herts can ne'er enjoy them O.

But gie me a canny oor at e'en,
My airms aboot my dearie O;
An warly cares, an warly men,
Mey a' gae tapsalteerie O!

For you sae douce, ye sneer at this,
Ye're nocht but senseless asses O:
The wicest man the warl' saw,
He dearly loved the lasses O.

Auld Natur swiers, the lovely dears
Her noblest work she classes O;
Her prentice han' she tried on man,
An then she made the lasses O.

Burns also wrote down or composed the following bawdy
verses to the tune:

O wat ye ocht o fisher Meg,
An how she trewed the wabster, O,
She loot me see her carrot c___,
An sell’d it for a labster, O.

Green growe the rashes, O,
Green growe the rashes, O,
The lassies they hae wimble-bores,
The weedows they hae gashes, O.

Mistress Mary cowed her thing,
Because she wad be gentle, O,
An span the fleece upon a rock,
To waft a Hieland mantle, O.

An heard ye o the coat o airms,
The Lyon brocht oor lady, O,
The crest was couchant, sable c___,
The motto--"ready, ready," O.

An ken ye Leezie Lundie, O.
The godly Leezie Lundie, O,
She mowes like reek throu a' the week,
But fingerf___s on Sunday, O.

(mowe: to "make the beast with two backs").

Burns wrote another bawdy version but I imagine that's enough!

Sandy
http://scotstext.org/

================================END===================================
* Please submit postings to lowlands-l at listserv.linguistlist.org.
* Postings will be displayed unedited in digest form.
* Please display only the relevant parts of quotes in your replies.
* Commands for automated functions (including "signoff lowlands-l") are
  to be sent to listserv at listserv.linguistlist.org or at
  http://linguistlist.org/subscribing/sub-lowlands-l.html.
 =======================================================================