The Muckin o Geordie's Byre
On Autumn Harvest AH 002
Old Songs & Bothy Ballads - Here's a Health to the Company
Geordie Murison sings:
A song claimed by George Morris of Oldmeldrum as his composition and published in Kerr’s Buchan Bothy Ballads. George Morris and his brother in law Willie Kemp were both known as King of the Cornkisters and both singers recorded the song on the famous Beltona label. It may well be based on an earlier song, as both David Herd and Robert Burns knew songs under the same title.
1: At the little craft upon the hill,
Aroun the neuk fae Sprottie’s mill,
Tryin aa his life the time tae kill
Was Geordie MacIntyre.
Noo he had a wife a sweir's himsel,
A dother as black's auld Nick himsel,
They had some fun, haud awa the smell,
At the muckin o Geordie's byre.
Chorus:
The graip wis tint, the besom wis deen,
The barra widna row its leen,
Siccan a soss that ever wis seen,
At the muckin o Geordie's byre.
2: The dother, she'd tae strae an neep,
The auld wife started tae swipe the greep,
When Geordie fell sklite on a rotten neep,
At the muckin o Geordie's byre.
Ben the greep cam Geordie's soo,
She stood up ahint the coo,
The coo kickit oot, oh fit a stew,
At the muckin o Geordies byre.
3: The aul wife she was booin doon,
The soo got kickit on the croon,
Stuck its heid up the wifie's goon,
Ben through Geordie's byre.
The dother cam thro the barn door,
Seein her mither lat oot a roar,
Tae the midden she ran, fell ower the boar,
At the muckin o Geordie's byre.
4: The boar he loup the midden dyke,
Syne ower the rigs wi Geordie's tyke,
Till they baith ran in till a bumbee's byke,
At the muckin o Geordie's byre.
The cocks an hens began tae craw,
Betty astride the soo they saw,
The postie's shelty run awa,
Fae the muckin o Geordie's byre.
5: Noo a hunner year it's passed an mair,
Far Sprottie's wis, the hill it's bare,
The craft's awa so ye'll see nae mair,
O the muckin o Geordie's byre.
His fowk aa deid an awa lang syne,
But in case his memory ye should tyne,
Jist whistle this tune tae keep ye in min,
O the muckin o Geordie's byre.
Chorus:
The graip wis tint, the besom wis deen,
The barra widna row its leen,
Siccan a soss there never was seen,
At the muckin o Geordie's byre. |
A vocabulary rich in Scots words:
auld Nick = the Devil; barra = barrow; ben = through; besom = broom; booin doon = bending down; bumbee's byke = bumblebee nest; croft/ craft = small farmstead; deen = done; fell sklyte = fall heavily; graip = fork with curved tines for lifting tatties; greep = gutter in the byre; jine= join; kill = overcome with weariness; midden = dung heap; muckin=cleaning; neep = turnips; rigs = strip of arable land; siccan = such; soo = sow/ female pig; soss = dirty wet mess; strae = straw; sweir = lazy; swipe = sweep; tint = lost; tyne = lose; tyke = dog; widna row its leen = would not hold it's load
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c p 2005 Autumn Harvest AH002
www.springthyme.co.uk
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