Working Life
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A Dyker's Compliments to Her Neighbours
Songs are made for a variety of reasons by a variety of people.This song was made by Scott Murray of the Fife song group Sangsters. Scott went to visit a group of elderly ladies living in Ladywalk House in Anstruther as part of a songwriting project … more »
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The Barnyards of Delgaty
This is one of the most famous of all the old bothy ballads.The young ploughman at the Barnyards of Delgaty had gone to the town of Turriff (Turra) to fee - to get employment on a farm for three or six months. The farmer promised two fine working … more »
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Collier Sweetheart
Ewan McVicar was asked to write songs with the P5 class in East Plean Primary School, near Stirling.Ewan’s mother was born in Plean and Ewan remembered that his grandfather, Hugh Reynolds, had told him about being in a mining disaster. Ewan's … more »
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Wee Gallus Bloke
A city song about confident girls coming out from their factory. They meet a lad and tell him what they think of him.He must feel this is definitely unfair.Hamish Henderson collected this song from trade union leader Josh Shaw at a party in Peel Street, … more »
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Plooman Laddies
A bothy ballad about a young woman farm worker who admires the handsome young ploughman from afar.Often bothy ballads about farm work speak of kindness to the unmarried men who live in the bothy from the ‘kitchie deem’, the kitchen maid, … more »
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The Fisherman's Lassie
Singer Isla St Clair says her grandmother, Madge MacDonald from the Isle of Lewis, sang this song while standing on the quay at Stornoway waiting for the fishing boats to return home.The third verse was added by David Kleiman.Oh, the fisherman's … more »
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Shift and Spin
A song by Ewan McVicar about the boredom of working in a large factory, where the noise is so loud you are alone with your machines and your thoughts.This song began as only a verse and chorus. Ewan McVicar was asked to write short pieces of song for … more »
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Song of the Fishgutters
This song is about Scots lassies from the fishing communities of the North East of Scotland going down to the English port of Yarmouth to gut the herring.The song was made to a traditional tune by Ewan MacColl for the award-winning Radio Ballad … more »
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The Shuttle Rins
This is a very interesting account of the process of making cloth. The wife turns the spinning wheel to make the thread. Her husband sits at his loom, throwing the shuttle from side to side through the threads.The later verses emphasise the weaver’s … more »
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The Blantyre Explosion
This is a tragic song of a young man killed in the coal pit and a young girl left lamenting. It is a song about the Blantyre mining disaster, which happened on the morning of 22 October 1877. Blantyre Colliery, William Dixon's pit, numbers 1 and … more »
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Winter Sun
A song by Gill Bowman about a woman coal miner in the days before 1840. The tune is ‘Leaving Stoer’ by Ivan Drever. The song is performed by MacAlias, Gill Bowman and Karine Polwart.The sleeve notes for MacAlias’ album Highwired say, … more »
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Fareweel Tae Tarwathie
A Scottish whaler is sad to leave home for the long and dangerous journey north to Baffin Bay, but hopeful; he will come home richer. The song is traditionally accompanied by the tune 'Kennet's Dream'.Fareweel tae Tarwathie - adieu Mormond … more »
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Peterhead Fisherman's Wife
A song about the hard work that inshore fishing involves. The first verse of the song was known as a rhyme in various fishing communities along the Moray coast. A Peterhead worthy took it as the start point for a wonderfully detailed account of the hard … more »
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Comin Through the Rye
A song credited to Robert Burns, but perhaps one of the many he found and added to, about a lass who thinks about who she might meet while walking through the field of rye. She suggests she might have a secret admirer, or even admirers.Gin a body meet … more »
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(Wha'll Buy My) Caller Herring
A song about how dangerous the work of fishermen was. It still is. The song is also about how the fishermen’s wives sold the herring in Edinburgh.The original lyrics were written by Lady Nairne, though singers have altered it a little and dropped … more »
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Some Hae Meat
A song written by Ian Walker, who explains, 'This song was provoked on hearing that we spend billions of pounds each year in Britain advertising food. The chorus is Robert Burns’s ‘Selkirk Grace’.'Ian never thought anyone else … more »