Atween Stanehive and Laurenkirk
On Autumn Harvest AH 004
Old Songs & Bothy Ballads - Some Rants o Fun
Geordie Murison sings:
Geordie is from near Stonehaven in Kincardineshire on the coast north of Arbroath. The local pronunciation of Stonehaven is Stanehive, and Larencekirk is a small town in a farming area a little inland - a place locally pronounced as Laurenkirk. Clochenhill, the farmer mentioned in the last verse and named after the farm in traditional fashion, is probably the same as Clochnahill, just off the main Laurencekirk to Stonehaven road, the farm that was farmed by Robert Burns' father before he left left the howe to seek elsewhere for a better livelihood. See: www.mearns.org/skite.htm
1: Atween Stanehive and Laurenkirk last term I did fee,
Was wi a wealthy fairmer, his foreman for tae be;
Tae caa his twa best horses was what I had tae do,
Was a task that I could manage weel baith in his cairt an ploo.
2: I wrocht his horses cannily and I did ma maister please,
Excepting for some rants o fun I did his temper tease;
Til the month o January which ye may weel believe,
For coortin wi the servin lass we baith did get oor leave.
3: It’s nae upon the maister that I pit aa the blame,
'Tis the the maiden o the toun, that high respected dame;
Fen nae sweethert tae her did come it grieved her sair tae see,
The happy oors that were spent atween ma girlie and me.
4: So come aa ye jolly plooboys and try tae mend the faut,
Just mind it is the maiden first that ye maun court and daut;
For if ye coort the servant first and gyang the maiden bye,
Ye may be sure the term for you it's court is drawing nigh.
5: Surely times are gettin hard fen coortin’s caad a crime, [caad=called
For it has been practiced noo, Guid kens a fu lang time;
But in the toun abeen the road it is forbidden there,
And for feein wi auld Clochenhill, I'll bid ye aa beware.
|
|
|
c p 2007 Autumn Harvest AH004
www.springthyme.co.uk
|