Brose and Butter

Brose and Butter

On Springthyme SPRCD 1004
OSSIAN - Ossian

Billy Ross - lead vocal & dulcimer; Billy Jackson - whistle, small pipes & vocal; George Jackson - guitar, mandolin & vocal; John Martin - fiddle, cello & vocal.

The first is a nonsense song – essentially Lowland Scots ‘mouth music’, equivalent to the Highland Gaelic port a beul that was used as dance music in the absence of instruments. The song has a particular interest as it was one of the first songs collected by Robert Burns in around 1785 and is in Burns’ Merry Muses of Caledonia. The song is followed by two Irish jigs.

1: O Johnny got brose, brose,
Johnny got brose and butter
O Johnny got brose, brose,
An aa the lave wanted their supper.

2: Jenny was up in the loft,
And Johnny wad fain have been at her;
There came a strong wind frae the west,
Aa the windows made clatter.

3: O in a goose is guid meat,
A hen is a boss and a bother;
In pie there’s muckle deceit,
There’s nothing like brose and butter.

the lave wanted = the rest did not get