Many years ago I was given a tape recording of an informal singing party. Most of the songs were of the "Tiny Bubbles" variety, but one fragment of a song stood out, "The Linplum Windings". I tried to track down the singer, Dod Hay, and I got close enough to be told that he would meet me, and that he could remember the remaining verses. However he was unwell at the time (and rather aged), and he died before I could speak to him. Dod Hay worked on East Lothian (near Edinburgh, Scotland) farms all his life, and the song appears to be very much a local song. I spoke to another East Lothian man who said his grandfather also sang the song as a young man, but had forgotten most of it (the grandson also told me he'd met a local lady who knew some of the characters in the song). All of this is a little frustrating, as it looks as though this fragment may be all that is left of an interesting local song. .............................................................. THE LINPLUM WINDINGS 1. Come all ye fine fellows, I pray you give ear I pray you look twice before ye leap once For there's mony a chap has been caught in a snare Wi' takin a loup before he was shair, laddie, Singing fol de lol lay, laddie, fol lol lay. 2. Aye, I'll warn ye all, the time's drawin nigh, Dinna hire tae yon Red Raw they ca' Linkylee For depend if ye do, yer sorrows will come If ye hire tae auld Hall, the auld grieve o' Linplum, laddie, Singing fol de lol lay, laddie, fol lol lay. 3. Aye I ken o' a chap, an a gie Hielan chiel, That wis yince sent tae feer that very same field, An the big Johnnie, he bubbled and grat, When his ploo widna work and his horse took the sprat, laddie, Singing fol de lol lay, laddie, fol lol lay. 4. That lad be cam hame wi' a tear in his ee Said nae mair will ah feer that field o' Auld Lee Of all the places that ever I've seen The windings beat a' that ever I've seen, laddie Singing fol de lol lay, laddie, fol lol lay. 5. Well I think a' aboot plooin' I've said very weel I'll tell ye noo somethin concerning our mill If gaun tae thresh auld Puff gies a shout Every yin tae their places and tak turn aboot, laddie, Singing fol de lol lay, laddie, fol lol lay. 6. Aye there's twa yokin cairts, the stack for tae drive There's twa in the laft the sheaves tae untie And if the orraman the sheaves disna get He turns on the weemin like a bull in a fit, laddie Singing fol de lol lay, laddie, fol lol lay. .............................................................. Sung by Dod Hay. The farm of Linkylee, the homefarm of the Linplum estate, lies between Gifford Morham and Garvald. loup = leap shair = sure yince = once feer = a ploughing term grat = cried sprat = unclear windings = a ploughing term (the windings went out and the 'happens' went in until the field was complete) -- Nigel Gatherer, Crieff, Scotland [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.argonet.co.uk/users/gatherer/ -- Nigel Gatherer, Crieff, Scotland [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.argonet.co.uk/users/gatherer/ Posted to Scots-L - The Traditional Scottish Music & Culture List - To subscribe/unsubscribe, point your browser to: http://www.tullochgorm.com/lists.html
