|
[TM] …. when the house
is full of people running around or chattering, nothing.
[MK] Nope, nothing at all, can't. I've got to
wait until everyone's out and then I can do it. I have to
have complete undisturbed peace and quiet.
[TM] Well how about hearing
a wee bit of the …
[MK] Right, the actual song.
[TM] Selling up, yes.
[MK] Emm, past great great big consumption dykes,
you know on the way to Ellon. These wide, wide dykes that
were just built out of the, to consume the stones from the
fields. All for nothing really, for the people that did it
anyway.
[TM] And the land can produce something and
is easy to work.
[MK] Yeah, as soon as it became manageable and
easy to use really fertile, economics and politics have made
it impossible and they've had to sell up, it just seems really
sad to me. So. That was, that was that song. And it was a
rush, a rush to get it in. Just do it, do it and send it off
to Akey Fair competition.
[TM] Is that, did they ask for entries on cassette
rather than …?
[MK] Well, I sent everything [laughs], I sent
a manuscript and a cassette just in case. So. And em, can't
remember now, looks like the lines are six line verses, I
can't remember now.
[TM] Five line verses.
[MK] Yes, it still works somehow. It sounds
reasonably four-square you know, sounds satisfactory.
[TM] Not alarmingly different.
[MK] You know, and yet it's sort of… this isn't it…
[TM] So you've just picked up a bit of Doric
here and there from being here all this time?
[MK] Yeah. Ah but, I can understand Doric fine
and I can speak it. I mean Fochabers is quite broad spoken
as well.
[TM] What was your name before you married?
[MK] Macaulay.
[TM] Didn't think Keenan was a [Scottish] name.
[MK] No, it's an Irish name.
[TM] And where's Johnny, and his people, from?
[MK] Blairgowrie. Well, Dundee I suppose first of all, Dundee,
his father was Irish, was brought up in like, the Gorbals,
you know the Irish folk that came over and were in the poor
area of Glasgow and em, were a very poor family, and they
all did really well, sort of academically you know. All did
well, but he died. Both Johnny's parents died when he was
quite young. I have a copy of Chris's song, that I think my
sister was singing, it's a bit better than em… Sunset
Song. She was a McVicar, Mary McVicar, so my name's Mary McVicar
Macauley. You know Angus McVicar, Jock McVicar, that's dad's
cousin. I could put on this once, I'm not sure if this is,
I'll just put it on very briefly.
[Music playing.]
[MK] It is. This is a really old recording.
It's really bad equipment, and my sister's voice just isn't
really loud in this. But this was quite early on.
[Music playing, singing.]
[MK] The words are there somewhere if you want
to see them. [papers shuffling; music playing, singing.]
[MK] These are the words. My voice is so flat
it's horrible…. Oh that's not ?? or Doric that's just
a straightforward tune. That's that one.
[TM] Mm hm. I wish I could
write music anyway. I'm hopeless at composing.
[MK] Well it was a thing I always found really
easy at college and when I did higher music you obviously
had to do melody writing, but these are the only songs that
are Scottish really. Everything else just songs. One I've
been trying to recently is redo one called 'When Mary Comes
Home From America'.
[TM] What's that about?
[MK] It's just about a figure, that actually
someone I know who, they are really nice folk and pretty poor
and they've got a cousin who comes over from America every
so often, and she's blonde and flash and bought a mink coat
for her sister's present, you know. And she'd rather have
got her electric bill paid, you know, it was just a pointless
Christmas present. She's really flash you know and wealthy,
and she comes over and descends on them and they all just
have a ball while she's here and then it's back to, rags and…yeah
[TM] Rags.. Sounds like a good subject for a
song.
[MK] Yeah. And she's nice you know, so when
Mary comes home from America, it's just what happens when
she's over and what the reality is, and then it also questions
her happiness, you know, has she got satisfaction in her life,
is it just a painted smile. All the glitz, does it hide something,
some sadness? That's that one. So. But yeah… [break].
[MK] It's good stuff he loves
Jimi Hendrix and Bob Dylan and so it's fine we're replaying
all our own stuff. Melanie and ….
[TM] You don't have to buy a whole new record
collection.
[MK] No! He's recycling all our scratchy old
LPs it's great. There's no clash, no there's no ravers in
this house, actually no one likes techno rave stuff which
is fine. But they're not into folk music, kids.
[TM] Are they musical in other ways?
[MK] Yeah, but, yeah. Well Jack plays electric
guitar, and Gwen plays the piano and bassoon. Patrick plays
the drums, that's hid drum kit, the ten year old, that's his
drum kit downstairs and the piano.
[TM] So it can be quite a loud house.
[MK] Yes, we need to be spread out. That's nice.
[break.]
Didn't realise it's very handicapped.
I was thinking about that one night, one day. And
I wrote a song called 'Malcolm', just a tune. So this is just
completely different. It's fantastic this Cubase, just brilliant.
[Music playing.] That's just the accompaniment. It's a cello
piece really.
[End of MK; start of MB]
[TM] Oh well, you'll forget
about it shortly. You were saying that there was old music
around when you were brought up.
[MB] Aye, ma father ye see he played the pipes
and he played the melodian at at time. And at wis a daen,
nae, nae, naebody telt him fit tae dae, or play or naethin,
it wis jist himsel learnt. And he wis affa musical. So eh,
nane o us played onythin except ma aulest sister, she played
the accordian. But then ye see at at time ye didnae hae the
money when we wis young ye see, there wisnae money for things
like at. But the men in the bothy they used tae play onything
ye see, withoot learnin, it's funny ye ken, so.
[TM] And how many of you were there?
[MB] Seven of us. Mm hmm.
[TM] Sisters?
[MB] Five girls and two boys. But eh, three of
the youngest eens, we aye hid concerts. Ma sister, Ina at
sister's, she stays up in Findhorn, and she's a great entertainer,
but the ither een disnae entertain [laughs].
[TM] You used to have a sing song in the house?
[MB] Every night we'd a sing song, mm hmm.
[TM] Would people come in from round about?
[MB] No, no just oorsels three. It wis, ma mither
went out and did the milkin at night ye see, so it wis jist
ma father in the house, and we aye, we'd is big table and
three cheers [laughs], and we stood on this three cheers and
we sang and we recited. What a cairry on we had, really. So
fae at time I've aye been interested in songs, so I dinna
ken, I'll keep singin a' ma life or no.
[TM] So far.
[MB] So far, so far.
[TM] Where did you get most of the songs?
[MB] Well, jist the, jist fae some o the books
ye ken you'd a gotten songs, and eh, I took em affa there
ye see wrote em oot affa the thingie. And jist got eens fae
ither folk, and aye jist kept em. Oh lot o songs I've got.
Oh aye.
[TM] Do you have, how many songs would you say
you have?
[MB] Oh well, I dinna ken [laughs], I dinna ken,
ere's nae, I lookit oot a puckle, but oh I think ere's a lot
o them through the hoose ye ken that I hinna been daen like
lately, but this is eens that I've aye kept up wi.
[TM] Have you always written them down?
[MB] Write them doon. I mean I sing em, recitations
and a, I dinna, I dinna dae it aff ma, I canna dae it wi'oot
ma paper like, I forget, [laughs]. I forget. So.
[TM] Where was it you were born?
[MB] Huntly. Mm hm. Aye there wis three o us
born at Huntly.
[TM] Was that cottering or?
[MB] Cotter aye, Dunblane, Garioch Cottages,
Dunblane, Huntly. Three of us wis brocht up ere, and then
we went to Oldmeldrum. And eh, I was a year old when we went
to Oldmeldrum. And eh, we stayed at ??? and eh wis ten years
there. Then we came to Longside in 1931 and we stayed in at
little lodge up the road here for a year and then they built
a house in the wood at the farm, so we wis been seven and
a half year up ere. And then my father hid tae retire at 64,
ye ken they used tae hae the stem mills in aboot thrashin
the corn, and the stew went down here, so he wis all choket
up, so he retired when he was 64. So we got a house up in
Stuartfield, well it's aboot a mile and a half fae Stuartfield
right in the middle o a park. And the first mornin he got
up and he's pullin on his pants and lookin oot the window
and he says 'what a place to come to' [laughs]. And we were
there for fourteen year. And well, I mean they were getting
frail then, so ma sister fae Edinburgh bought this hoose,
so they came, we came back to Longside. At would be aboot
41 years ago since we come back in here.
[TM] And you've been here ever since?
[MB] So I've been here ever since. But eh…
I would like something, something to masel ye ken, cause this
is nae oor hoose ye see. But hoowever, it's fine here ye ken,
we like here. There's nae, I mean there's nae many folk doon
here gan aboot, it's fine jist on your own. Ma mither used
tae ca it 'Land's End' [laughs]. But that was when there wis
the two houses were here, the ither two were built later on.
They were jist in a field.
[TM] And where were your father's people from?
[MB] Orkney, they both belonged to Orkney.
[TM] I thought it was a northern name.
[MB] Aye, they were both Orcadians. He came
across here when he wis aboot seventeen I think. He wis on
the railway, down in Edinburgh and then he came up here tae
the farming. And then he wint back tae Orkney for ma mither
and took her back here [laughs]. So they spent the first o
their married life in Oldmeldrum and then they went to Drumuir,
and Keith, and they were at Fordyce and then we went to Huntly.
[TM] And you were cottering?
[MB] Cottering a the time. Aye. So that wis it.
[TM] Do you remember what sort
of things you got up to for things like Hogmanay when you
were young?
[MB] Oh we used to, we used to go out, oh there was once ma
sister was up here and eh, I suppose the three of us it was.
And there was a big farmhouse up there, a big house rather,
nae a farmhouse. And eh, there wis an old lady and her man
stayed in it. So we had a reel you know, at reels, and you
notched the bits out here, notched this bits out, and eh you
put a bit of twine round here (around the spool) and you held
it tae the window and you pulled this ye see,, made a terrible
sound [laughs] and the woman heard it, she was a bittie deaf
but she heard it. So she says til her husband 'Oh' she says,
'the water must be boiling' you know up in the tank, so she
went and ran off the water, and eh then she come back again
and of course we did it again, and I think she saw somebody
and she says 'Ha, ha, ha it must be at quines'. [Laughs] It
was affa funny, so we aye kept up aboot the reel. Oh they
used tae take off gates ye see, well our gate wis taken off
up the lodge there, and put up the road a bit. And there was
a few young lads took a plough fae the smiddy and took it
right up tae the little school up here, a little school at
at time and took it up there. The bobby found out who the
boys were and he took them all up and they'd tae carry it
right back again [laughs]. So they felt gey small! [laughs].
Aye, at wis good. Oh aye. And eh, well when we were young
ye see, fan we were at the dances, and ah, we'd a been at
the dances at Mintla Station and aboot seven or eight wiks
afore Hogmanay we stayed at home. And we saved at money at
we spent at the dance and then on Hogmanay night we went tae
the pub and we hid a very good hogmanay, jist wi bein a…
The young ones now jist dinna believe at, they jist dinna
believe't. And I says, well at's jist fit we did. And then
on the road home we, if there wis a light in a window, we
jist went in [laughs], all the way down through Mintlaw. So
we'd a good Hogmanay.
[TM] That's quite a few houses.
[MB] Oh aye, onywey wi a light ye see, we jist
went in, but ere's ye dinna dae at now, I dinna think, na
I dinna think it.
[TM] Did you ever hear about anybody putting
a turf on top of the chimney?
[MB] Aye, I've heard o that too. Aye. There
wis at happened once in Stuartfield and eh, some o the boys
took a washing, the woman's washing and hung it up atween
the two chimneys. [laughs]
[TM] Up above the house?
[MB] Aye, hung it up. It hung for a few days
before it was taken down. At wis oor hogmanay ye see. Aye.
At wis jist on Hogmanay night. Aye well.
[TM] So going from house to
house did you take anything with you?
[MB] Usually you took something with you, aye,
something little, you know. And then of course a wee dram.
You only had a little bottle of something. [laughs]. So. Oh
aye, I think, I think we really enjoyed oorsels better then
than they do now. Ye see there's nae…. I dinna ken, I
maybe wrang but I think, I think we' d the best o it.
[TM] Maybe not so much, just fun.
[MB] Jist fun ye see. Aye, no no. Well ye see
we hidnae the money so we'd tae make wir ane fun, at's fit
happened..
[TM] Did you do anything special for halloween?
[MB] No nae really. No they jist used tae duck for aipples
like. But nae much, na.
[TM] And what about Christmas?
[MB] Well, we'd aye wir Christmas, we aye put
up wir stockin. Hung up oor stockin. We didnae get much in
it. An apple or an orange, a few sweeties or something like
at. But eh no, there wisnae the things at at time. Well fan
the baker come roon every wik, ma mither bought a cake o candy
aboot at size ye see and it wis put intae seven bits so at's
fit we hid till oor, I think he'd tae come twice a wik, and
at wis oor sweetie for the wik. And on a Saturday well we
wis two miles fae Oldmeldrum, and one o the girls, there wis
three girls next door and there wis us three, and eh one o
them and one o us went tae the shop and eh, ye got a penny
tae spend at Saturday, so at wis a penny every third Saturday
that you got. And we bought a lucky tattie hoping tae get
a half pence in it [laughs]. Sometimes there wis naething but
files ye got a half pence.
[TM] What's a lucky tattie.
[MB] A lucky tattie, wis jist a roon bit o toffee
candy stuff and there wis cinnamon on the top o it. [End of
Side 1.]
[TM] Remember a rhyme erm, for calculating
Easter?
[MB] We nivver had naething at Easter, na.
[TM] Do you remember 'First comes Candlemas,
syne the new meen'?
[MB] No, we nivver had, we nivver bothered wi
that ye see.
[TM] Was there any sort of rhyme that you said
for Hogmanay going round people's houses?
[MB] No.
[TM] Like 'Rise up old wife'?
[MB] Well, we didnae really, we didnae really
say nothin ye ken, we jist, jist walkit in, hid a laugh.
[TM] And would there be music and song when
you went in as well, would you sing a song or two?
[MB] Nae really, we wis jist aye spikkin, mm
hmm, jist aye spikkin.
[TM] All the news.
[MB] Jist a the news! [laughs], a the news. Mmm
hmm. That's it. Aye. Ah weel.
[TM] Do you feel up for a song?
[MB] Oh, I suppose I could. I'll gie ye that
old Rustic Bridge een.
[TM] That's the Old Rustic Bridge.
[MB] Aye, and at, at's at Towers's father. Towers,
the councillor fae Cruden Bay, it's his father at made it,
and at, Anne [pause].
[TM] Anne Buchan.
[MB] Anne Buchan. She said, at wis her, at wis
him at married her, 'is boy.
[TM] And where did you learn it?
[MB] Well I got it fae a woman fae, fae Fetterangus.
But she didnae ken fa sang't. But her father had sang't, and
it wis on a tape, so she gied it tae me?
[TM] And who was that?
[MB] Fa wis't? Isobel, Isobel Stewart, fae the
smiddie, the blacksmith's daughter, at the smiddie had getten
it, and her father, she said her father had sung't an a, but
at wis, but she didnae ken fa really sung the thing. It wis
a, it wis an Orkney man at sings it. And it wis in the paper!
Eens, aye I meant tae cut it oot and I forgot, but then eh,
this lad came and telt me that he backit him.
[TM] The one that's married to Anne Buchan?
[MB] The one that's married tae Anne Buchan.
So that's it! Now are you ready?
[MB]
I'm thinking tonight of the old rustic brig
That bends o'er the clear winding burn
Twas there at New Year wi ma belly foo o beer
I crassed where the road taks the turn.
I'd been at a party with whisky and beer
And I had a glorious fill
I got on me bike but I sailed ower the dyke
At the auld rustic bridge by the mill.
Beneath me the front wheel she buckled
I'm wearing the marks o it still
I barkit me shins on the bottles and tins
At the auld rustic bridge by the mill.
I'm thinking tonight o that auld rusty bike
She carried many a mile
She's a reed wi rust and the front wheel is burst
To mend her is no worth me while.
She once was a beauty wi back pedal brakes
And gears I could change on a hill
But noo I must hike since I struck the dyke
At the auld rustic bridge by the mill.
Beneath the wheel she buckled
It sure was a terrible spill
Me heid in the segs, wi me bike roon me legs
At the auld rustic bridge by the mill.
I'm thinking tonight of the last harvest ball
The ??? cometh he felt so grand
For eight bob an hour they could hire Henry Hall
To play at their dance wi his band.
But I got me ticket, a drap in me pooch
Then I got a terrible spill
I near broke me neck ower naysbury drake
At the auld rustic bridge by the mill.
Beneath me the front wheel she buckled
The drake, oh I swear for him still
His neck threw me wheels, cast head ower heels
At the auld rustic bridge by the mill.
[MB] Ye like at een?
[TM] It's quite a story.
[MB] It's a big story.
[TM] I'm trying to picture it.
[MB] It's a big story. [laughs]. This
is Prince and Jean
[TM] Oh yes.
[MB] Princie and Jean
I'll sing ye a sang o a canty auld body,
A kenspeckle figure wis auld Wattie Broon
A trustworthy handie at the mains o Drumcloddie,
Syne the day he began tae work there as a loon.
And syne there as baillie he proved himsel
canny,
His work conscientious, particular and clean
Til ae day his maister said Wattie, my mannie,
Ye'll tak the third pair they're ca'd Princie and Jean.
In a' bonnie Scotland there wisnae a human
Sae happy as Wattie wi his dandy pair
He sure held his ain whin the rest wis a' plooin
And oh he wis prood o his geldin and mare.
A grand pair o blacks no their likes in a hauner,
Wi coats o a rich bonny ebony sheen
And at plooin' matches for years Wattie won her,
For groomin his bonnie wi Princie and Jean.
So Wattie aye bided content wi his duties
But life's foo o changes as abody kens
Decrepit aul age claimed the baith o his beauties
And tractors began tae appear at the mains.
A steering wheel Wattie jist widnae be grippin,
He vrocht on his ain and didnae complain
But a'body noticed peer Wattie wis slippin,
Doonhill he wis pinin for Princie and Jean.
And noo he's awa his trauchles are ended,
A God-fearin body that aye did his best
His life wis a sermon, the mourners a kent it,
On Tuesday last week when we laid him tae rest.
And we a hid a thocht, tho we didna divulge it,
As wi hunkies we dabbit the tears fae wir een
That if He wha wis born in a manger so wills it
They'd be waitin for Wattie, his Princie and Jean.
[TM] Do you know who made that?
[MB] No, I dinna ken fa made 'Prince and Jean'.
I heard the, eh fit de ye ca him….
[TM] Tam Reid.
[MB] No, Lovie.
[TM] Oh Robert Lovie.
[MB] Robert Lovie. He sung it, he has sung it.
Dae ye ken The Lass Fae Cornhill.
[TM] I heard it once, just once.
[MB] Did I sing at?
[TM] No, I heard Bill McKinnon, don't know if
you know him, he's from.
[MB] Oh aye, fae Peterheid?
[TM] Uh huh, yes. His sister used to sing and
he sang it. Yes I'd like to hear that.
[MB] 'The Lass Fae Cornhill'
As I gaed by the border side, a lass I chanced tae see
We talked a while and then says I, wid ye like tae walk wi
me
We strolled alang beside a stream and then doon by the mill
She said her faither held a ploo at a fairm by Cornhill.
Oh the nicht wis fair as on we gaed, o time
we took nae heed
As through the trees the meen shone bright alang the banks
o Tweed
We saundered on doon by the Mains, when all wis quiet and
still
And there I kissed the bonny lass, the lass fae Cornhill.
We stood a while beside the brig, I asked tae
see her hame
And promised that we said guid nicht, that we wid meet again
Noo the lassie's a my ane, and aye my thoughts she'll fill
Sae dear tae me, she'll always be, the lass fae Cornhill.
As I gaed by the border side, a lass I chanced
tae see
We talked a while and then says I, wid ye like tae walk wi
me
We strolled alang beside the stream and then doon by the mill
I'll ne'er forget the night I met the lass fae Cornhill.
[TM] Very nice
[MB] Ye like tae here at een
than, ye like tae here the tape? I'll jist fix it up. Now,
ready?
My First Hairst.
In eighteen hunner and seventy three I gaed tae Akey Fair
I wis a hard up laddie then and needin sil'er sair
Tae see if ony fairmer chiel me for the hairst wid fee
I wisnae carin far I gaed nor fit I hid tae dae.
The day wis fine wi little win, and the sun
wis beatin on ma heid
And wi a stack a corn in ma buttonhole I staed
Upon the hill among the heather young lads and laddies prigged
A bricht and keen tae fee and work upon the hairvest rig.
I stood a file among the crood and sine wi
searchin look
Aul Hillie come and spear'd can I, or rake or bin or stook
I fairlie can dae that says I, for though I'm little bookit
In hairst times since ever I min, I rakit, bin and stookit.
Noo Hillie wis a grippit chiel and hardly wid
agree
Tae dottle oot the twa pound ten I wanted for ma fee
Tae bin and stook at leanin time, tae fork upon the laun
And fin the tatties ready were, tae lift them gie a haund.
Tae Hillie's I gaed hame aboot o the first
wik o September
And sure upon that hairst I think I ever will remember
The foreman Jock MacPherson he wis a pushin chap
And Jimmy Sim, the second man, could play the fiddle weel.
The cattleman, a surely loon, and mairried
wis ye ken
Lived in a hoose aside the road, a tackit but and ben
The other men folk at the toon did in the chaumer sleep
A'been the horse and up the stair, a guff come fae the greep.
The foreman raised at five and gaed the kitchie
deem a knock
In tae let us hae wir brose a teen and start at sax o clock
Then we hurried tae the rigs as faist as we could gang
And though we brocht for fully twa hoors, we nivver think
lang.
The cutters, three big hardy chiels, stripped tae their breeks
and sark
Gaed swingin a the gither fine, made clean and bonnie parks
An a they streaket oot themsel's and laid the corn doon
The folk ahin them keepit tae, and sang a merry tune.
At piece time when the servant lass came laden
fae the toon
Wi baskets big we hungry ran, and at a stook sat doon
And as we on the stubble sat, and happy ate the gither
The lads and lassies hid a fun, a fecht wi een anither.
And though we had a rocht sae weel and sweat
the hale day lang
Sae tired and heppit were we a, we scarcely hame could gang
But when we hid wir supper daen, tae the strains o music sweet
We filled the kitchie fleer and danced wi licht and nimble
feet.
CA. It's a chap at wis fee'd o ma brither that
wrote it.
[TM] That made it.
[MB] That made it, aye.
[TM] Where was that?
[MB] Oh, that wis roon aboot Auldmeldrum somewey.
I canna, I canna min the name o that lad, it's CA.
[TM] And did you get it directly from him or?
[MB] Well ma brither must have gotten it fae
him. Mmm Hmm. I couldna min far it come fae ye ken.
[TM] Do you remember seeing
feeing markets when you were young, did you ever go to one?
[MB] Nivver gaed tae the feein markets, no, na.
Na, na. Oh I've brocht the fairm tee. I wis aye in the fairm
hoose like till I wis 20, 24 would have been. Na, it's efter
at. Well my mither broke her leg and I come hame tae look
efter her. And eh, and then efter she died I eh, I gaed tae
Cross and Blackwells. And I wis twelve year at Cross and Blackwells.
[TM] Where was that?
[MB] Peterheid. The cannery factory. So I wis
twelve year there, and then of course I was 60, so I was bunked
oot! [laughs]. Aye. I got eh, I got fae May till September
efter I wis 60, but there wis a scarcity of work and there
wis 25 of us got paid aff that day.
[TM] What year were you born?
[MB] What year was I born? 1920. 73 past.
[TM] Wouldn't have guessed.
[MB] I'll be 74 is year, 74 in May.
[TM] How about that one?
[MB] Oh, I've nivver daen is een I dinna think
[laughs]. I did doon here, I did doon here last week, at wis
the first.
[TM] At the Longside Club.
[MB] Aye they hid a man fae Peterheid entertainin
em, he wis jist himsel and he got me tae dae twa three things,
gie him a rest.
[TM] Oh well, you've had a practice then.
[MB] The Turra Coo.
Oh Turra coo, oh Turra coo, yer like wi nivver
sa
Entwined they name wi mony men far we ??
Yer fame has spread fae pole tae pole
Ye are fair Turra's pride
There ne'er wis sic a weel kent coo in a the countryside.
Oh Turra coo.
On Lendrum's braes in summer days, ye poo'd
the grass sae green
But since that time on Turra square, ye rowdy sichts hae seen
And aye white hide bore mony names, sarcastic wi a loo
And there engraven on oor minds and on the sherra's too.
Oh turra coo.
We stood aroon ye on the square, the day they
tried a sale
Ye took a notion in yer heid and fairly turned tail
And rach ?? oh I see him yet, a roket in his haund
He cried boo boo, and efter you, wi a his micht he ran.
Oh Turra coo.
The sequel to this little tale, wis heard in Aiberdeen
Not proven was the verdict and there's bonnets on the green
Lang may ye roam ower your new hame, mis ?? clovery pastures
too
For naething in the bovine race could match the Turra Coo.
Oh Turra coo.
[MB] Alright?
[TM] The story of the Turra Coo.
[MB] The Turra Coo. That's the Turra Coo.
[TM] When did that happen?
[MB] I d'ae ken, ye ken I dinna fa would I hae
it fae. I've jist nae idea. It's nae lang since I got it like,
but I canna min fa, I canna min gaed me it. Oh there's aye
somebody as they'll ken that I'll use it [laughs].
[TM] Yes that's right, know that it'll be well
used.
[MB] That's it.
[TM] Ah now, what about this
one, it looks intriguing, the 1970 flu?
[MB] Oh that's ma sister that made this up.
She maks up poetry, aye her up at Findhorn and she hid the
flu is time.
The flu bug struck on hogmanay at sixty mile
an oor
Of course I caught it wi baith hands as it came throu the
door
I'd planned tae watch oor Andy fen he came on the air
And hae a keek at Moira, but oh ma beens were sair.
I bedded up, twas nearly nine, a fever in ma
heid
A shiver runnin doon ma spine and legs like lumps o leid
Twa days tae dae up odds and ends, I'd planned them for weeks
But the best laid schemes o mice and men gaed up the lum and
reek.
I'm nae the only een that's true, a o'er there's
thoosans mair
I've feelin wretched with this flu and missin New Year's fair.
At wis it. Aye she maks up a lot o poetry.
[TM] Do you have many of them or just a few?
[MB] Well, I've gotten eens fae her I suppose,
I dinna ken far tae look for them. But eh, oh just when she
wis a young lassie she made up is poetry.
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