Dolli-ah

Dunfermline Linen

On Springthyme SPRCD 1002
John Watt & Davey Stewart - Shores of the Forth

Dunfermline in Fife was, at the turn of the 20th century, one of the largest producers of linen in Europe. Recitation by John Watt. The text comes from Dunfermline draper Harold Hutton who gleaned it from a pre-war 1939-45 newspaper article. There is also a Belfast version.

In a mean abode, doon the Limekilns road lived a man cried Charlie Groat,
And he’d a wife, the plague o his life, wha continually got on his goat;
Till one day at morn, wi her nichtgoon on, he slit her skinny throat.
Wi a razor gash he settled her hash, ha ha, never was crime sae quick,
But the steady drip on the pilly slip o her life blood made him sick,
While the pool o gore on the bedroom floor grew cauld and clotted and thick.

Well, he was glad that he’d done what he had, as his wife lay there sae still,
So tae finish the fun, sae weel bequn, he decided himsel tae kill;
So he’s taen the sheet frae aroond her cauld feet and he’s knotted it intae a rope,
And he’s hanged himsel frae thc lobby shelf, ’twas an easy death let’s hope,
While wi his last breath, in the grips o death, he’s uttered a prayer tae the Pope.
Noo, the funniest turn o the hale concern, it’s only just beginnin,
Ye see, Charlie went tae hell, but his wife’s noo well, she’s still alive an sinnin;
For ye see, the razor blade was Japanese made, but the sheet was Dunfermline linen.