The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #24676   Message #323102
Posted By: Bob Bolton
19-Oct-00 - 11:02 PM
Thread Name: Lyr Req: Musselburgh Fair and Musselburgh Field
Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: The Two Musselburgh Songs
G'day again Malcolm,

Do you have any background information on the terms used in the Bigler song? There are a few that I can't really fathom:

"...our captain he's a shang-a-roosh,"
... ?

"Our mate he's a roadstone-prat-inspector,"
As "prat" is standard English for buttocks (as in 'pratfall'), I'm not surprised "He's been seen in many a goal;"!

"Our third hand he's a bushranger,"
Well, we Australians know what we mean by a "bushranger", but what did it mean to Sam Larner? (Unless "He come on deck and received the mail," means he was inclined to pinch anything worthwhile in the crews' mail.)

This group of songs, clustered around the one tune, is a very interesting area.

Regards,

Bob Bolton