The Barnyards o Delgaty
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Joe Aitken from Kirriemuir: On Autumn Harvest ah010: Old Songs & Bothy Ballads: Hurrah Boys Hurrah! Live from the Fife Traditional Singing Festival May 2010.
One of the most famous of all the old bothy ballads. The farm of Barnyards is on the Delgaty estate a mile north east of Turriff. Greig opens his Buchan Observer article on Ploughman Songs with Barnyards (FSNE 4, GD 3.347). The song is no doubt a parody of life as it would really have been on this particular farm. The song, which was probably written early last century, seems to be related to Rhynie. There is an overlap between the various versions of each, both text and tune.
1: In New Deer parish I was born,
A child o youth tae Methlick came;
And gin ye'll no believe ma word,
The session clerk'll tell the same.
Chorus:
Linten adie, touran adie, Linten adie tooran ae,
Linten louran, louran, louran, the barnyards o Delgaty.
2: Tae bide upon ma faither's fairm,
That was never my intent;
I looed the lasses double weel,
And aye the wee, wee drap o drink.
3: As I cam in be Netherdale,
At Turra merket for tae fee,
I fell in wi a fairmer chiel,
Fae the barnyards o Delgaty.
4: He promised me the twa best horse,
Ye ever set yer een upon;
When I gaed hame tae the barnyards,
There was nothing there but skin and bone.
5: The auld black horse sat on his hunkers,
The auld white meer lay on her wime,
For aa that I could up and cry,
They widna rise at yokin time.
6: Meg MacPherson maks ma brose,
Her an me, we canna agree,
First a mote and syne a knot, [i.e. a little then a lump
And aye the ither jilp o bree. [i.e. spill the rest
7: When I gang tae the kirk on Sundays,
Monys a bonnie lass I see,
Sittin by her faither's side,
An winkin ower the pews at me.
8: Some can drink and nae be drunk,
Some can fecht and nae be slain,
But I can coort anither man's lass,
An aye be welcome tae ma ain.
9: Ma cannle noo it is brunt oot, [i.e. candle
The snotter's fairly on the wane, [i.e. the wick burnt down
Sae fare ye weel ye barnyards,
Ye'll never catch me here again.
Chorus:
Linten adie, touran adie, Linten adie tooran ae,
Linten louran, louran, louran, the barnyards o Delgaty. |
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