| Author | Topic: Add: Johnnie Sangster | |
| dmcg | Posted - 06 Jul 03 - 08:06 am | |
Johnnie Sangster O a' the seasons o' the year when we maun work the sairest, The hairvest is the foremost time and yet it is the rarest. We rise as seen as mornin' licht. Nae craters can by blyther. We buckle on oor finger-steels and followed oot the scyther. (Chorus) For you, Jonnie, you Johnnie, you, Johnnie Sangster! I'll trim the gavel o' my sheaf for ye're the gallant bandster. A mornin' piece to line oor cheek afore that we gae further. Wi' clouds o' blue tabacco reek, we then set oot in order. The sheaves are risin' fast and thick and Johnnie he main bind them. The busy crew, for fear they stick, can scarcely look behind them. I'll gie ye bands that winna slip; I'll pleat them weel and traw them. I'm sure they winna tine the grip hooever weel ye draw them. I'll lay my leg oot ower the sheaf and draw the band sae handy Wi' ilka strae as straucht's a rash and that will be the dandy. If e'er it chance to be my lot to get a gallant bandster, I'll gar him wear a gentle coat and bring him gowd in handfu's. But Johnnie he can please himsel', I wadna wish him blinket; Sae after he has brewed his ale, he can sit doon and drink it. A dainty cowie in the byre for butter and for cheeses, A grumphie feedin' in the sty wad keep the hoose in greasies, A bonnie ewie in the bucht wad help to creesh the ladle And we'll get ruffs o' cannie woo' wad help to theek the cradle. Taken from J Ord, Bothy Songs and Ballads. This is thought to be the composition of William Scott of Fetterangus, Aberdeenshire in the first part of the nineteenth century. (Spellings given as printed by Milner, including 'seen' for 'soon' etc) Database entry is here. | ||
| Malcolm Douglas |
Posted - 06 Jul 03 - 01:49 pm | |
Roud 2164. John Ord, Bothy Songs and Ballads etc., 1930, 265-6. Ord added: "...both words and music were sent to me by Mr. Gavin Greig, M.A., ex-President of the Buchan Field Club, Whitehill, New Deer, who writes regarding it as follows:- "I cannot be sure that the words are complete. They have been taken down as sung in this district. The song is said to be the composition of William Scott, who belonged to Fetterangus, in the parish of Old Deer, and was born in 1785. Scott was a herd laddie to begin with. He subsequently went to Aberdeen to learn tailoring, from thence to London, but returned to Aberdeen. He afterwards visited America, returning to Old Deer, where he died at a pretty advanced age. Published poems, chiefly in the Buchan dialect, in Aberdeen in 1832." " Ord prints the music, which is not as given here; being in D, common time, treble clef throughout and with very different note values. | ||
| dmcg | Posted - 06 Jul 03 - 02:02 pm | |
I would be interested to see/hear the Ord version. Milner's version is very similar to, though not quite the same as, the version I know, which came from Ray Fisher's record "The Bonny Birdy". As far as the clef is concerned, Milner usually seems to transpose music to a relatively low pitch and then writes it entirely in treble; it is an artifact of 'abc2ps' program that it changes clef part-way through. I don't know if there is any way of turning that off - I certainly find it confusing. Edited By dmcg - 06/07/2003 14:03:17 | ||
| Jon Freeman | Posted - 06 Jul 03 - 03:17 pm | |
Dave, under the 1.7.6 draft, you can specify the clef in the K: header, e.g. K:C clef=treble. That seems to fix this problem here and doesn't seem to trouble abc2midi. I'n not sure why abcm2ps behaves the way it does though as the draft also says "Where no clef is specified the default is treble." Jon | ||
| Malcolm Douglas |
Posted - 06 Jul 03 - 03:23 pm | |
Here is the tune as given by Ord. The first note in the penultimate bar was undotted, but this seems to have been a printing error, as the Tonic Sol-Fa indicates the expected dot, so I have restored it. X:1 T:Johnnie Sangster B:Ord, Bothy Songs and Ballads, 1930, p.265 S:Communicated by Gavin Greig L:1/8 Q:1/4=100 M:4/4 K:D A|F3/2 F/ F3/2 D/ E3/2 E/ E3/2 E/|F3/2 G/ A3/2 F/ B2 B3/2 A/| w:O a' the sea-sons o' the year, when we maun work the sair-est; The F3/2 F/ F3/2 D/ E3/2 E/ E3/2 E/|F3/2 G/ A3/2 F/ B2 B3/2 A/|B3/2 c/ d3/2 B/ w:hair-vest is the fore-most time and yet it is the rar-est. We rise as seen as e3/2 d/ c3/2 A/|B3/2 c/ d3/2 B/ c2 B3/2 A/|B3/2 c/ d3/2 B/ c3/2 e/ e3/2 d/| w:morn-in' licht. Nae cra-ters can by blyth-er. We buck-le on oor fin-ger-steels and B3/2 A/ F3/2 A/ B2 B3/2|| A/ |F2 F/ D3/2 E2 E/ E3/2|F2 A/ F3/2 w:fol-lowed oot the scyth-er. For you, John-nie, you John-nie, you, John-nie B2 B3/2 A/|F3/2 F/ F3/2 D/ E3/2 E/ E3/2 E/|F3/2 G/ A/ F3/2 B2 B|] w:Sang-ster; I'll trim the ga-vel o' my sheaf for ye're the gal-lant band-ster. So far as I know, there is only one tune for the song, and it doesn't vary much. | ||