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01
Out on the on the poop deck and walking about
There's the second mate so steady and so stout
What he is a thinkin of he doesnae know his bell
We're wishin he would hurry up and strike, strike the bell
Strike the bell second mate, and let us go below
Look well tae windward you can see it's going to blow
Look at the glass you can see that it has fell
We wish that you would hurry up and strike, strike the bell
Down on the main deck and working at the pumps
There's the starboard watch all a longing for their bunks
Looking out tae windward they see a great swell
They're wishin the second mate would strike, strike the bell
Strike the bell second mate, and let us go below
Look well tae windward you can see it's going to blow
Look at the glass you can see that it has fell
We wish that you would hurry up and strike, strike the bell
Up at the wheel, poor Anderson stands,
Grasping at the spokes with his cold bitten hands
Looking at the compass, though the course is clear as hell
He's wishin that the second mate would strike, strike the
bell
Strike the bell second mate, and let us go below
Look well tae windward you can see it's going to blow
Look at the glass you can see that it has fell
We wish that you would hurry up and strike, strike the bell
Forward on the foc'sle head and keeping sharp
lookout
Young Johnny's standing ready for to shout
Lights are burning bright, sir, and everything is well
And wishing that the second mate would strike, strike the
bell
Strike the bell second mate, and let us go below
Look well tae windward you can see it's going to blow
Look up the glass you can see that it has fell
We wish that you would hurry up and strike, strike the bell
Up on the quarter deck, our ga'ant captain stands
Looking out to windward, a spy glass in his hands
What he is a thinkin of we know very well
He's thinkin more of shortenin the sail than striking the
bell
Strike the bell second mate, and let us go below
Look well tae windward you can see it's going to blow
Look at the glass you can see that it has fell
We're wishing that you would hurry up and strike, strike the
bell
[Applause.]
02
He's like a computer, he's word perfect!!! Right, now the
next couple that are coming up here have at last seen the
light and have actually moved out of Aberdeen and out to Ythanbank.
They are very well known in local, well North East folk circles,
and they are actually going to start up a singer session -
have you got your diaries out? - it'll be on the third Sunday
at the Tollbooth in Ellon, which is opposite the library.
I can just aboot tell ye where Ellon is, that way. Laughs.
Right, every third Sunday in the Tollbooth at Ellon at 8 o'clock,
and you'll have something like this but a bit more professional.
So please go along and lend support. It's very important to
keep nights like this alive. This couple are really Dick and
Margaret Trickie (?), but they are also known as 'Bridge the
Gap'. So a big Fyvie Folk Club welcome.
[BTG] Don't forget that then, Sunday 20th this
month at the Attic Bar, the Tollbooth in Ellon. We'll run
a session like this and get as much going as we can. Do you
want to sing a chorus song? Yes. That's a pity we're not going
to do one, sorry bout that. This one we ripped off an lp by
a bully wee band, I think they recorded it back sometime in
the 80's. (No, no, no, it was the seventies)
[BTG] Oh, it must have been, you're right. The
seventies. ??? Eighteen seventies wasn't it. That's one way
of guaranteeing you're never going to get invited back. It's
called Levi's Lassie. It's a traditional.
03
When first she came to town
They called her proud and sassie
But now they've changed her name
Call her Leaboy's lassie
She died her petticoats red
And faced them with the yellow
She'll tell the dyster lads
??? boy she will follow
The black horse draws the cart
The ??? follows bonnie
Sey weel she likes the lad
That drives them on sey canny
Over hills and dales
Dykes and ditches
Sey weel she likes the lad
That wears the moleskin breeches
Feather beds are soft
And painted rooms are bonny
But she would leave them all
And go away wi Johnny
When first she came to town
They called proud and sassie
But now they've changed her name
Call her the Levi's lassie.
[Applause. Thank you.]
[BTG] With the festive season just past, here's
a song for the season.
04
Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away
Now it looks they're here to stay,
Oh I believe in Yesterday
Breathalyzed, crystals turning green before
my eyes
I turned yellow when I realised
I had just been breathalised
Suddenly there's a policeman looking down at
me
I'd like to thump him but he's six foot three
And I would like to stay alive
I did something wrong, and I know it was a beaut
When he flagged me down, well I parked upon his boots
So softly,
I was sick, when they took me to the local nick
I've never seen a sergeant move so quick
But not as quick as I was sick
We want your blood to test for alcohol
Get away I said, get knotted dracula.
Analysed, 300 mg per 100 mls,
Now they reckon I'm a floating still
And I will soon be penalised.
Yesterday all my troubles seemed so far away
Now it looks as though as they're here to stay
Oh omnibus, please come my way.
[Applause.]
05
[BTG] This is a traditional song. Whisky is a big industry
in Scotland, and it wasn't so at one stage, this was just
something that everybody brewed in the back shed, it wasn't
until it was discovered and popularised by the master race,
the English (laughs), that it became a national drink and
as world wide accepted as it is. But obviously when you create
a market you get competition, and this is a song from the
whisky wars of Fiddichside.
As I come in by Fiddichside, on a May morning
I spied Willie McIntyre an oor before the dawning
Turn again, turn again, turn again I bid ye
I will burn, Knockandhu, Huntly he will ???
Heed me or hang me, that will never fear me
For I will burn Knockandhu, ere the light leaves me
As I come in by Knockandhu on a May morning
Knockandhu was in a bleeze, an oor afore the dawnin
Crawin, crawin for a' the cras o crawin
A bunch o crops and tint yer wings an oor before the dawnin
Crawin, crawin for a' the craws a crawin
A bunch o crops and tint yer wings an oor afore the dawnin.
06
Anyway, he's actually got to rush away home to his bed very
shortly. But he says he'll come up here and give us a song.
He used to sing years ago, he heard about Fyvie Folk Club
and he's been practising madly with his guitar and he's got
a blister on his finger. But anyway I'd like you to welcome,
a really good welcome for Ted Clark.
07
[TC] Hallo. Testing, one, two three. First time in twenty
years I'd done something like this. It's not a case of butterflies,
it's bloody great vultures. So bear with me. A sea shanty
ok? Or, where I came from 'a sea shanty'n at, by the way'.
In 1846, on June the thirteenth day
Our gallant ship put her anchor away
Oh for Greenland bore away, brave boys
So for Greenland bore away.
The lookout in the cross tree stood
With a spy glass in his hand
There's a whale, there's a whale,
There's a whale fish he cried
And she blows at every span, brave boys
And she blows at every span
Well the captain he stood on the quarter deck
And a fine little man was he
Overhaul, overhaul, let yer davit tackles fall
And head your boats for sea, brave boys
And head your boats for sea
Well we struck that whale and the line gave
out
And she gave a flourish with her tail
And the boat capsized and we lost four men
And we never catched that whale, brave boys
And we never catched that whale
Well to lose our men, the captain he said
Well, it grieves my heart full sore
But oh to lose such a fine big whale
Well, it grieves me ten times more, brave boys
Well it grieves me ten times more
Now Greenland is a terrible place
It's a place that's never green
Where there's ice and snow and the whale fishies blow
And the daylight's seldom seen, brave boys
And the daylight's seldom seen
[Applause.]
08
[TC] There's a gentleman earlier on who said the words of
the chorus, and I thought that was a nice way to do things,
to join in you know. I'd like you to join in the chorus of
the next song if you don't mind. I'll just give you the words
first, it goes E hine e, hoki mai ra, Ka mate ahau, I te aroha
e'. Well the Maoris are allowed folk songs too you know. And
it's a story of unrequited love. And it goes like this.
Pökarekare ana
ngä wai o Rotorua
Whiti atu koe hine
marino ana e.
E hine e
hoki mai ra
Ka mate ahau
I te aroha e
For I have written you a letter
And enclosed within a ring
If your people should receive it
Then the trouble will begin
E hine e
hoki mai ra
Ka mate ahau
I te aroha e
Pökarekare ana
ngä wai o Rotorua
Whiti atu koe hine
marino ana e.
Oh my beloved
Come back to me
Or I shall die
For the leave of thee
Pökarekare ana
ngä wai o Rotorua
Whiti atu koe hine
marino ana e.
E hine e
hoki mai ra
Ka mate ahau
I te aroha e
and as they say one more time [laughs]
E hine e
hoki mai ra
Ka mate ahau
I te aroha e
[Applause.]
Thank you, makes me feel at home again after
all these years.
09
This song, about 25 years ago, there was a disaster in Wales.
Aberfan. A friend of mine in Singapore wrote this one and
Bernie Fairarm was his name, a few verses I can still remember
after all these years. It's a little sad, but well.
Black is the life of a mining man.
In the bowels of the earth, with a pick and a lamp
Black is the life of a mining man
And black is the memory of Aberfan
In a little brick school house children laughed,
sang and played
Until down came that mountain That mining men made
More than 100 lives lost before they began
A lost generation in Aberfan
The heartaching mothers stood watching with
dread
As men pulled out children all broken and dead.
They'd stood at the pithead to wait for their man
Now gone to their children in Aberfan
So come all you young miners who cut the rough
coal
And don't take the lie for another young soul
Bury your ways just as deep as you can
Lest you bury your children like Aberfan
Thank you very much.
[Applause.]
10
I look forward to Ted coming back, … now that's what
I'd really like to learn. Could be a bit cramped for space,
but never mind. Right our next singer is again a first. This
man, I was talking to him about brailing his mizzen. That's
what you get for having spent about an hour singing on a fishing
boat outside Fraserburgh harbour. Right, it's Tony George,
he's actually from Cumniestown, he's been there umpteen years.
11
Brought a couple of props with me because, to try and er,
not make too many mistakes. I got a book, handmade. And what
I'd like to do is first of all sing, a shanty, there is a
difference you know between a sea shanty and a sea song. A
shanty was a working man's song, songs that were sung on board
to turn the capstan, to pull on the hallyards. And this first
one is a capstan hallyard song, and it's got a chorus, a little
bit easier than the last one I hope. And I think you'll probably
know it, many of you, it's called 'All for me grog'. OK, we'll
do the chorus first, and the second and fourth line of the
chorus you all say I'd like you to join along in all the verses,
it's very simple 'it's oh for me grog and tobacca, and it's
all for me grog and tabacca', so you can remember that. Right.
'Oh for me grog'
All???
Oh for me grog, for me jolly jolly grog
Oh for me grog and tabacca
For I spent all me store with the lassies on the shore
And it's oh for me grog and tabacca
When I came home ?? me sweetheart I shall see
Oh for me grog and tabacca
And me sweetheart shall sing when she sees the wedding ring
And it's oh for me grog and tabacca
Oh for me grog, for me jolly jolly grog
Oh for me grog and tabacca
For I spent all me store with the lassies on the shore
And it's oh for me grog and tabacca
When she's a son for to dangle on her knee
Oh for me grog and tabacca
And she'll sing him to sleep while I sail the stormy sea
And it's oh for me grog and tabacca
Oh for me grog, for me jolly jolly grog
Oh for me grog and tabacca
For I spent all me store with the lassies on the shore
And it's oh for me grog and tabacca
When he's a man and a sailor he shall be
Oh for me grog and tabacca
With his pipe and his can like a proper sail man
And it's oh for me grog and tabacca
Oh for me grog, for me jolly jolly grog
Oh for me grog and tabacca
For I spent all me store with the lassies on the shore
And it's oh for me grog and tabacca
[Applause. Thank you.]
12
Song for entertainment. And it comes from the East coast of
England, it's a disaster song, and it's got a chorus. It's
called 'Three Score and Ten'.
Me thinks I see a host of craft,
A spreading their sails a lee
As down the Humber they do glide,
All bound for the Northern Sea
Me thinks I see on each small craft
A crew with hearts so brave
Going out to earn their daily bread
Upon the restless waves.
And it's three score and ten
Boys and men were lost from Grimsby Town
From Yarmouth down to Scarborough
Many hundreds more were drowned
Our herring craft our trawlers
Our fishing smacks as well
They long defied the bitter night
And battled with the swell.
Me thinks I see them yet again,
As they leave this land behind
Casting their nets into the sea,
The herring shoals to find
Me thinks I see them yet again,
And they're all on board alright
With their nets close-reefed, their decks cleaned up
And their side-lights burning bright.
And it's three score and ten
Boys and men were lost from Grimsby Town
From Yarmouth down to Scarborough
Many hundreds more were drowned
Our herring craft our trawlers
Our fishing smacks as well
They long defied the bitter night
And battled with the swell.
October's night brought such a sight,
'Twas never seen before
A' masts and yards and broken spars,
Were all washed up upon the shore
There was many a boat of sorrow,
There was many a heart did grieve
There was many a fine and hearty lad
To find a watery grave.
And it's three score and ten
Boys and men were lost from Grimsby Town
From Yarmouth down to Scarborough
Many hundreds more were drowned
Our herring craft our trawlers
Our fishing smacks as well
They long defied the bitter night
And battled with the swell.
Thank you.
[Applause.]
13
Finally, this is a shanty, again a capstan shanty, and I have
heard it sung here before. I've got a slightly different version,
but it's pretty simple. Again there's a chorus. It's 'Paddy
Lay Back'. And in the verse, in the verses, the end of each
line, the last two or three words, if you repeat it. OK.
It was a cold and windy morning in December,
(December)
And all of me money being spent, (being spent)
Oh it was a day I hardly can remember, (remember)
So down to the shipping office I went, (I went)
Oh Paddy lay back, (Paddy lay back)
Take in the slack (take in the slack)
Take the turn around the capstan, heave a pawl, heave a pawl
And about ship stations boys be handy, (be handy)
Cause we're bound for Valaparaiso around the Horn, (around
the horn)
That day there wuz a great demand for sailors
(for sailors)
From the Colonies from 'Frisco and from France (and from France)
So I shipped aboard a Limey barque the Hotspur (the Hotspur)
And got paralytic drunk on my advance (on my advance)
Oh Paddy, lay back (Paddy, lay back)
Take in the slack (take in the slack)!
Take a turn around the capstan-heave a pawl - (heave a pawl)
And about ship stations, boys, be handy (be handy)
Cause we're bound for Valaparaiso around the Horn, (around
the horn)
Oh I wish that I wuz in the 'Jolly Sailors'
(Sailors)
With Irish Kate just drinking gin and beer (gin and beer)
So I sits upon my old sea chest a thinkin (a thinkin)
An' with me flipper I wipes away a tear (away a tear)
Oh Paddy, lay back (Paddy, lay back)
Take in the slack (take in the slack)!
Take a turn around the capstan-heave a pawl - (heave a pawl)
And about ship stations, boys, be handy (be handy)
Cause we're bound for Valaparaiso around the Horn, (around
the horn)
Now we got all the tugs alongside, (alongside)
They towed us from the wharf and out to sea (out to sea)
With half the crew a-pukin' o'er the ship's side (the ship's
side)
And the bloody row that started sickenin me (a sickened me)
Oh Paddy, lay back (Paddy, lay back)
Take in the slack (take in the slack)!
Take a turn around the capstan-heave a pawl - (heave a pawl)
And about ship stations, boys, be handy (be handy)
Cause we're bound for Valaparaiso around the Horn, (around
the horn)
Now the first mate he said he couldn't savvy
cause (savvy cause)
The crew was speaking lingos all galore (all galore)
So the captain says the only thing to do was (to do was)
Was to lay us lovely buggers off and ship some more (and ship
some more)
Oh Paddy, lay back (Paddy, lay back)
Take in the slack (take in the slack)!
Take a turn around the capstan-heave a pawl - (heave a pawl)
And about ship stations, boys, be handy (be handy)
Cause we're bound for Valaparaiso around the Horn, (around
the horn)
[Applause.]
14
There's nae tugs at Longside, but however there's going to
be rock salt and nails. Remember the muckle mingle we had
with the Shetlanders? Well Rock Salt and Nails are a really
good sort of young folk rock group and they are going to be
appearing at Longside, on the 26 March, and a bargain at £3
a head. You can take the rest of your body as well. (Laughs).
Right. We're about to charge your glasses again, we're not
paying for them. Oh and the other thing is there's going to
be an orchestra called the Colds Blast Orchestra, and if you
are a member of Fyvie Folk Club, which you dinna need to part
wi any money to be anyway, but if you come here and you want
to go and see these folk, it's £5 a head, as I say take
the body as well, but you can give the names to me so I've
been told. So I don't know what the original price is, were
they very expensive? Where and when? Well Greg, Greg (I'll
put it on him), Greg thinks it's the 27 February - check press
for details. Is that noo a cop oot. What press. The Press
& Journal, no the iron press. Okey dokey. So charge your
glasses and we'll draw this wonderful raffle.
15
Aye, the old ones are the best. This was one I learned at
Sunday School. I was always a bit worried about our Sunday
School teacher, but she swore that this was the original version,
not many people know that Noah came from Bury, but apparently
it was so. And for those of you as young as Sheila, 3 ha'pence,
is a penny ha'penny and is a very small amount of money. Well
it is now anyway.
I'll tell you an old fashioned story, that Grandfather
used to relate
About a joiner and building contractor, his name it was Sam
Bogglethwaite
In a shop on the banks of the Erwell
(and for those who've never been there the Erwell is a pretty
little stream running between green banks and meadows in Bury,
if you fall in the Erwell they don't give you the kiss of
life, they give you an
injection of antibiotics).
In a shop on the banks of the Erwell, Old Sam
used to follow his trade
In a place you'll have heard of, called Bury, you know where
black puddings is made
One day Sam is filling a knothole with putty, when in through
the door came an old fella fair wreathed in whiskers. This
old chap said, good morning I'm Noah.
(This is from the New English Bible by the way,
in the St James version he says 'morro').
Sam asked Noah what was his business, and t'owd
chap went on to remark
That not liking the look of the weather he were thinkin of
building an Ark.
He'd gotten wood for the bullocks (that's a nautical term
- laughs)
And owt other ship building junk, and he wanted some nice
birds eye maple
To panel the side of his bunk.
Now maple was Sam's monopoly, that means it
was his all to cut
And nobody else had got none, so he asked Noah 3 ha'pence
a foot
An ha'penny too much replied Noah, a penny a foot's more the
mark.
A penny a foot and when rain comes, I'll give ye a ride in
me ark.
But neither would budge in a bargain, the old daft thing were
a kind of a jam
So Sam put his tongue out at Noah and Noah made long bacon
at Sam (now I often wonder what the hell that is - anyone
know? Any old people know what long bacon is? Sounds disgusting
to me).
Noah made long bacon at Sam.
In wrath and ill feeling they parted not knowing when they'd
meet again
And Sam had forgotten all about it till one day it started
to rain
It rained and it rained for a fortneet, and flooded the whole
countryside
It rained and it kept on raining till the Erwell was fifty
miles wide
The 'ouses were soon underwater, and folks to their roof had
to climb
They said it was rottenest summer that Bury had had for some
time
The rain showed no signs of abating, and water rose by hour
So the only dry land was at Blackpool and that was at top
of the tower.
So Sam started swimming to Blackpool, it took
him the best part of a week
His clothes were wet through when he got there and his boots
were beginning to leak
He stood to his watch-chain in water, on tower top just before
dark
When who should come sailing towards him, but old Noah steering
his ark
They stared at each other in silence till Noah were along
side all but
Then Noah said 'what price yer maple' and Sam said 'three
ha'pence a foot'
Noah said 'nay, I'll make thee an offer, the same as I did
t'other day
A penny a foot and a free ride, now come on lad what does
thou say?'
'Three ha'pence a foot' came the answer, so Noah his sail
had to hoist
And sail off again in a dugeon, while Sam stood determined
but moist
Noah cruised round flying his pigeons till fortieth day of
the wet
And on his way back, passing Blackpool he saw old Sam standing
there yet
His chin just stuck out of the watter, a comical figure he
cut
Noah said 'now what's the price of your maple' and Sam answered
'three ha'pence a foot!'
Said Noah, 'ye'd best take the offer it's the last time I'll
be hear about
And if the water comes half an inch higher, and I can get
maple for nowt'
'Three ha'pence a foot it'll cost ye, and as for me' Sam said
'don't fret'
The sky's took a turn since this mornin, I think it'll brighten
up yet!
Thank you.
Enough of this nonsense. We'll have some culture,
I'm going to welcome up Dot Jessieman now, who's had an excellent
time since we last saw her. She's not sung for 4 months, she's
broken her arm, but apart from that she's in fine fettle,
so welcome up please Dot Jessieman! Applause.
16
[DJ] Well in addition to breaking my arm, since I saw you
all last, I spent a holiday in Ireland. And I think the Fyvie
Folk Club ought to start organising itselves and we ought
to take a large bus over there and have ourselves a hoolie.
Because there's musicians seem to sprout up like mushrooms,
they all can play and sing and it was just a fantastic holiday.
Having to find something to sing without playing a guitar,
I decided to go for an Irish song, and I dare say like a lot
of other people who sing Irish songs, we've all said oh well,
I used to sing so and so, but since the troubles I haven't.
And that means you cut out a good half of Irish music, but
on the other hand you don't want to sing a song which encourages
people who think bombs are a political argument. So I've gone
back to the rising of the eighteenth century, 1798 when the
farm boys of Ireland, encouraged by the French, rose and found
themselves let down by the French and facing the guns and
the might and the discipline of the British Army, sounds familiar
doesn't it? And the song is called as the Croppy Boy, which
in local parlance I suppose would be translated as The Teuchter.
It was early, early in the spring
The birds did whistle and sweetly sing
They thrung their notes from tree to tree
And the song they sang was Old Ireland free
T'was early early on a Tuesday night
the yeoman cavalry gave me a fright
To my misfortune and sad downfall
I was taken by Lord Cornwall
As I was marching up Wexford Hill
Oh who could blame me to cry my fill?
I looked behind, and I looked before
But my aged mother I will see no more.
Twas in old Ireland that poor lad died
Twas in old Ireland his body lies
Oh say a prayer those who do pass by
Yes, say a prayer for the croppy boy.
[Applause.]
17
Now I'm going to follow what seems to be a fashion tonight,
and instead of singing an old song, I'm going to take a poem,
another Irish poem, it's by WB Yeats, and it's called the
Fiddler of Dooney.
When I play on my fiddle in Dooney.
Folk dance like a wave of the sea
My cousin is priest in Mulhooney
My brother in Mocharabuiee.
I passed my brother and cousins
They read in their books of prayers
But I read in my book of songs I bought at the Sligo fair
When we come to the end of time
To Peter sitting in state,
He will smile on the three old spirits
But will pass me first through the gate
For the good are always the merry
Save by an evil chance
And the merry love the fiddle
And the merry love to dance
And when the folk there spy me, they will all come up to me,
With "Here is the fiddler of Dooney!"
And they'll dance like the waves of the sea.
[Applause.]
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