Re: [scots-l] Mystery Title
W. B. OLSON wrote: [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Would anyone be able to tell me what the title Weary Pund o' Tow means? Its the title of a slow air from Gow's 3rd Repository. A pity that apparently no one knows anymore the answer to Jack's question about the title Cameron's Got His Wife Back Again-- I'll bet it was a good story once. Regards, Andrew Kuntz Posted to Scots-L - The Traditional Scottish Music Culture List - To subscribe/unsubscribe, point your browser to: http://www.tullochgorm.com/lists.html There's another song that's related to Weary Pund o' Tow. It's called Wary Bachelors in Jean Thomas's, 'Devil's Ditties', 1931. The 3rd and 4th verses closely parallel verses in Weary Pund (SMM #350). 3rd and 4th verses: I bought my wife ten pound of flax As good as ever growed And out of that she hackled me One single pound of tow. Beware of a pound of tow Before it is begun I am afraid my wife will end her life Before the tow is spun. Bruce Olson -- Old British Isles popular and folk songs, tunes, broadside ballads at my no-spam website - www.erols.com/olsonw or just A href=http://www.erols.com/olsonw; Click /a Closely related to the last above is The Pound of Tow in W. H. Logan's 'A Pedlar's Pack of Ballads and Songs', pp. 377-9, Edinburgh, 1869 (reprinted Detroit, 1968) Bruce Olson Roots of Folk: Old British Isles popular and folk songs, tunes, broadside ballads at my no-spam website - www.erols.com/olsonw or just A href=http://www.erols.com/olsonw; Click /a Motto: Keep it up; muddling through always works. 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] Mystery Title
W. B. OLSON wrote: [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Would anyone be able to tell me what the title Weary Pund o' Tow means? Its the title of a slow air from Gow's 3rd Repository. (snip) There's another song that's related to Weary Pund o' Tow. It's called Wary Bachelors in Jean Thomas's, 'Devil's Ditties', 1931. The 3rd and 4th verses closely parallel verses in Weary Pund (SMM #350). 3rd and 4th verses: I bought my wife ten pound of flax As good as ever growed And out of that she hackled me One single pound of tow. Beware of a pound of tow Before it is begun I am afraid my wife will end her life Before the tow is spun. A double meaning: literally, to get a small quantity of linen from a large amount of flax steams by beating them and shredding them (hackling) which is particularly back-breaking manual labour. The men used to have the job of cutting the flax or hemp, and soaking the stems or fermenting them in piles; the women got the job of breaking up the rotted stems to extract the fibres, which would then be spun. The method was to thrash bunches of the stalks against stones, until devices were invented to speed this up, including kinds of water and wind mills. Apparently it's one of those jobs which leaves you either with no skin on your hands - combination of highly abrasive, cutting fibres with water. So: to get a very small quantity of reward from a large amount of effort. Above: to devote your life to a marriage which produces little reward in return. This might be taken to metaphorically today, as we expect relationships to be judged on their emotional value. When the phrase was coined, the meaning was probably more literal; the wife was expected to be an economic partner and to manage the prosperity of the household, so the writer is probably really complaining about a marriage where material wealth is wasted. However the words above have a 'feel' of being about the emotional side as well, something which begins to appear in the 18th century. For related song expressing attitudes towards women/marriage see 'The Wife Wrap'd in the Wether's Skin' (etc) which definitely comes from before this 'watershed' and happily describes how an unsatisfactory wife (again, mainly in economic and functional terms) can be cured by beating! (But does acknowledge that a man should not really beat his wife - hence the sheep's skin to wrap her in, as he can legitimately beat his sheep). David 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] Mystery Title
Would anyone be able to tell me what the title Weary Pund o' Tow means? Its the title of a slow air from Gow's 3rd Repository. A pity that apparently no one knows anymore the answer to Jack's question about the title Cameron's Got His Wife Back Again-- I'll bet it was a good story once. Regards, Andrew Kuntz 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] Mystery Title
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Would anyone be able to tell me what the title Weary Pund o' Tow means? Its the title of a slow air from Gow's 3rd Repository. A pity that apparently no one knows anymore the answer to Jack's question about the title Cameron's Got His Wife Back Again-- I'll bet it was a good story once. Regards, Andrew Kuntz Posted to Scots-L - The Traditional Scottish Music Culture List - To subscribe/unsubscribe, point your browser to: http://www.tullochgorm.com/lists.html The most common version of The Weary Pund o' Tow' is in 'The Scots Musical Musesum', #350 (song and tune). It used by women in the Washington, DC area at craft festivals, etc, to sing as they give demonstrations of carding, spinning and weaving. Bruce Olson -- Old British Isles popular and folk songs, tunes, broadside ballads at my no-spam website - www.erols.com/olsonw or just A href=http://www.erols.com/olsonw; Click /a Motto: Keep it up; muddling through always works. Posted to Scots-L - The Traditional Scottish Music Culture List - To subscribe/unsubscribe, point your browser to: http://www.tullochgorm.com/lists.html
