The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #65716   Message #1084490
Posted By: Malcolm Douglas
02-Jan-04 - 08:45 AM
Thread Name: Lyr Req: Kempy Kaye (sung by jock tamson's bairns)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: a' jock tamson's kempy kaye
Presumably you have the CD reissue. The original vinyl (Jock Tamson's Bairns: The Lasses Fashion, Topic 12TS424, 1982) had mostly good source notes and lyrics for the songs. It appears that this is a collation made from "some of the more unpleasant passages" from the examples in C K Sharpe, Ballad Book, 1823 (Child 33A), and G R Kinloch, Ballad Book, 1827 (Child 33B). Neither book included music, so I can't tell off-hand where they got the tune they used, as unfortunately they don't say. Bronson has two tunes only, the only traditional ones known for this song, and it isn't either of those.