Re: [scots-l] Kelso (wis: Bessie Bell and Mary Gray)
Nigel Gatherer wrote: Nigel, this is sub-judice. In fact the girl was from Kelso. You've just written a pretty good ballad on an ACTUAL INCIDENT LAST WEEK. (Actually, it's pretty traumatic and is being treated as a serious assault by the police). How on earth did you know that the Gemini II Club is, indeed, right next to Hogarth's Oat and Meal Mills in Vasult Square? You must be that old geezer the girls complain about hanging around in the wynds... (NB: brilliant. Quite excellent. We have our Kelso 'Session' on Friday officially listed by the tourist board for this week so we'll just have to sing this one!) David THE KELSO SHEARIN Now as I went doon tae Kelso Mill I met wi Tam MacNee An' he looked at me wi ma lang yella hair Wi a twinkle in his ee Ricky doo dum day, Doo dum day, Ricky dicky doo dum day I asked him whaur he wis gaun the nicht He said a pairty up Broomlaunds An' I knew by the way he touched ma hair That he had dead sexy hauns Ricky doo dum day, Doo dum day, Ricky dicky doo dum day Aff we went through Kelso toon I had ma new lad on ma airm Till a gang o slags cam efter us Intent on daein me hairm Ricky doo dum day, Doo dum day, Ricky dicky doo dum day They dragged me doon a closie Held me doon, startit tae laugh Grabbed ma ears, an' took oot some shears Said C'mon girls, cut it aff! Ricky doo dum day, Doo dum day, Ricky dicky doo dum day By the time these hags were finished I wis shocked an' feart an' stunned As I staggered oot I wis as bald as a coot An my hair wis on the grund Ricky doo dum day, Doo dum day, Ricky dicky doo dum day Noo a' ye Edinburgh lassies Wha come doon fer a jig Dinna pit on airs, dinna flash yer hair Wear a hat or e'en a wig Ricky doo dum day, Doo dum day, Ricky dicky doo dum day ... From Songs of Kelso, Gala and Frangipanni (Rupert Calvert, 1888). Taken down from the singing of Bauldy Shavencroon, an itinerant flax separator from Floors. Posted to Scots-L - The Traditional Scottish Music Culture List - To subscribe/unsubscribe, point your browser to: http://www.tullochgorm.com/lists.html
[scots-l] Re: Kelso
Here's the 1789 broadside. This can't claim to be in the same league as Nigel's piece for style, but maybe it might be timely for the next Kelso Races, whenever that is, if they still have them... Come to think of it, this is possibly the worst-written piece of putative verse I have ever seen. I wonder if the girls whose jingles actually scanned had to pay higher lineage rates? A List of the Sporting Ladies, who are arrived in EDINBURGH, from all the different Towns in the Three Kingdoms, to take their pleasure at KELSO RACES. == Miss Mary Scot, from Glasgow came, a clever, hearty, bucksome quean, Arrived here to take her chance: at sport or play, who well can dance. But with no man she will agree, but with the best of Qualitie. Miss Jeany Reid, from Dundee, as pretty a girl as e'er you did see; Her temper it is kind and free, and always keeps good company. Miss Betty Brown, from Perth town, she is a handsome pretty lass, with any man will take a glass. Miss Peggy Bain, from Aberdeen, as bonny a lass as e'er was seen. Miss Nell Graham, from Montrose, beautiful and blooming as any rose. Miss Jenny Dow, from Kirkcaldy came, she is the flower of all Scotland. Miss Mally Stewart, from Stirling town, Cloathed in silk, the toast of all the town. Miss Baby Hall, from Dunbar, the flower of all the east country. Miss Sally Ross, from Haddington, who would not kiss for half a crown. Miss Beanie Burt, from Prestonpans, She has two quick and nimble hands. Miss Bell McNair, a bucksome fair, who in sporting always had her share. Miss Christy Skeen, who has too clever been, and always ready, to act the pleasure Lady. Miss Fanny More, whom Gentlemen does much adore. Miss Dolly Small, as pretty a Lady as any of them all. Miss Mackiver, who is handsome, tall and cliver. Miss Mackay, a lovely lady, in sporting she is always ready. Miss Macksun, who stands alone, will show you sport or all be done. Miss Mackdonald, a clever dame, for to sport she thinks no shame. Miss Gall, she is both straight and tall, as pretty as any of them all. Miss Macdonald from Dublin city, who is both tall and very pretty. Miss Smith, come from London city, she looks so well, she needs no ditty. Miss Butler from the city of York, she's like wise come to join the sport; she is both bonny, blyth and gay, and has come here some time to stay. N.B. Those who want any of the above ladies, may call for them at Moffat's-close, High-street, Edinburgh. === http://www.purr.demon.co.uk/jack/ === Posted to Scots-L - The Traditional Scottish Music Culture List - To subscribe/unsubscribe, point your browser to: http://www.tullochgorm.com/lists.html
[scots-l] Re: Kelsae Lasses
There is nothing Kelso girls like less than a pretty face, unless it's long blond hair. The town is notorious for any girl who looks half decent getting waylaid and scarred for life by members of the plug ugly majority! Oh David, how could you malign the young ladies of your adopted home town so??! Just when we're trying to get the tourists back too. I've taught the lassies of Kelso (and the laddies) at the High School for the last 12 and a half years. They're lovely - well, most of them. A town like Kelso needs jobs to keep its young people here. Hairdressing seems as good a trade as any. Cheers Eric Posted to Scots-L - The Traditional Scottish Music Culture List - To subscribe/unsubscribe, point your browser to: http://www.tullochgorm.com/lists.html
Re: [scots-l] Re: Kelsae Lasses
Eric Falconer wrote: There is nothing Kelso girls like less than a pretty face, unless it's long blond hair. The town is notorious for any girl who looks half decent getting waylaid and scarred for life by members of the plug ugly majority! Oh David, how could you malign the young ladies of your adopted home town so??! Just when we're trying to get the tourists back too. I've taught the lassies of Kelso (and the laddies) at the High School for the last 12 and a half years. They're lovely - well, most of them. A town like Kelso needs jobs to keep its young people here. Hairdressing seems as good a trade as any. Lovely girls, aren't they? Actually, it does sound as if the 'attack' was less serious - more like just a part of the girl's hair getting cut off, not a massacre. But Gemini II is a dangerous place to go if you dress a bit differently. Actually, what Kelso needs desperately is higher education. A town with no education after the age of highers loses all the more intelligent kids over 17 or 18; all that remains is what doesn't go to college. Even Hawick has Borders College, even Duns gets an annexe, Kelso has little but one room for a mainly adult course. Kelso will remain the way it is - visually attractive, pleasant enough but devoid of any real culture apart from teachers, teachers' kids, professionals and professionals' kids - until someone puts a decent college level faculty in the town. My own kids say Galashiels is a safe place to go, you can be whoever you choose to be, the Heriot-Watt influence means that strange gothic beings and eccentric styles of dress are normal, and intelligent conversation can even be found in the taxi queue at 3.00am. Kelso is quite different. I'm not a fighter and I can survive with a man grabbing my arm and telling me his laddie has just spent six months in jile but he's a gud lad, would I sing Athenry for him? And tourists, on the whole, don't see this side of it. They're safe in bed. For the 17-25 age group Kelso is hell; the only kids who stay here are in factories, on farms or unemployed. You teach the ones who disappear and go to uni, or at the worst, drudge through a year or two getting lists of modules from Borders College. It's very easy to shut your eyes to the others since they leave school just when they are getting really unmanageable. We have a great folk session at the Red Lion, but it lacks traditional input now since most of our traditional players are teachers, and won't come. They end up face to face with elements they don't want to remember. Actually, we don't like them much either and if we do any serious folk 'bookings' we won't use the Red; these are not an audience I would care to inflict on any visiting artist! Despite this Kelso is the best place I've ever lived. It's fine for tiny kids, young families, oldies. And on the whole, it's great for visitors. The difficult elements are only that way with 'their own' and in their own space. Jedburgh is supposed to be pretty rough, and one of the worst Border towns for drugs, but my kids and their friends have always reckoned it a safer environment for a night out. David Posted to Scots-L - The Traditional Scottish Music Culture List - To subscribe/unsubscribe, point your browser to: http://www.tullochgorm.com/lists.html
