Help: What are the Buchan Humlies

Subject: What are the Buchan Humlies
From: Metchosin
Date: 14 Mar 00 - 05:51 AM

I was recently given a box of 78 RPM recordings of Scottish Folkdance music by Jimmy Shand on the Beltona lable, from the 1930's. A number of tunes, such as the "Pap of Glencoe" (march) and "Mrs. Stewart of Grantully" (strathspey and reel), are said to be "from the Buchan Humlies". The only reference I can find for "the Buchan Humlies" is that of a a breed of "a breed of Scottish cattle". Since I can't quite get my mind around a bunch of dancing cows, does anyone know what are "the Buchan Humlies" referred to on the records?

Subject: RE: Help: What are the Buchan Humlies
From: GUEST,Paul Burke
Date: 14 Mar 00 - 07:59 AM

I can't see a ravelled hank of yarn dancing either, but that's the name of another tune.

'Buchan Humlies' probably does refer to cattle.

Subject: RE: Help: What are the Buchan Humlies
From: Amos
Date: 14 Mar 00 - 09:20 AM

Cousins of the Strathmore-on-Twott Humlies, I believe...

Subject: RE: Help: What are the Buchan Humlies
From: GUEST,Murray on Saltspring
Date: 14 Mar 00 - 01:03 PM

Buchan humlies are hummel [hornless] cattle bred in Buchan; so by extension, refers to natives of Buchan. I'm not sure what THAT means, though--maybe Shand got his versions of the tunes from north-east rustics??

Subject: RE: Help: What are the Buchan Humlies
From: Bob Bolton
Date: 14 Mar 00 - 07:14 PM

G'day all,

Of course, by the 1930s, there is a chance that an old Scottish Dance Band came up with a good local name for the band ... (plus ca change, plus ca meme.

Regard(les)s,

Bob Bolton

Subject: RE: Help: What are the Buchan Humlies
From: Margaret V
Date: 14 Mar 00 - 11:46 PM

Hmm, this is a fun thread. I recently learned "Annachie Gordon" but hadn't yet dragged out the atlas to look for Buchan; it's in the northeast, then? Also, Metchosin, I can't help but mention the wonderful and funny Richard Thompson song of reverence for Jimmy Shand's old Beltona records, to be found on the 1991 album "Rumour and Sigh." The song's called "Don't sit on my Jimmy Shands." (Reverent toward Mr. Shand, irreverent toward the lady who threatens the survival of the 78s. . .) Cheers!

Subject: RE: Help: What are the Buchan Humlies
From: GUEST,Murray on Saltspring
Date: 15 Mar 00 - 12:15 AM

Mgt V: I'd like to hear that Richard Thompson song!! I cringe, mind you, at the thought of anyone, however sylphlike, sitting on rarities like Jimmy Shand records. Beltona had a lot of good stuff out there; does anyone know whether they've been made more permanent on CD?? Bob B: you've got a good idea there: "The Buchan Humlies" sounds like an excellent name for a folk band. How can we research that kind of thing?

Subject: RE: Help: What are the Buchan Humlies
From: Margaret V
Date: 15 Mar 00 - 12:42 AM

Murray, that's precisely Richard's point, and he's cringing in the song because the lady in question is in no way sylphlike! To give you the sense of it, here's a verse: Darling though you're twice my size I don't mean to patronize Honey let me lead you by the hand Find a lap or find a chair You can park it anywhere Just don't rest your cheeks against my man!

Best, Margaret

Subject: Lyr Add: DON'T SIT ON MY JIMMY SHANDS (R Thompson)
From: Stewie
Date: 15 Mar 00 - 01:20 AM

I reckon any song that's reverential towards 78s deserves a full quote:

DON'T SIT ON MY JIMMY SHANDS

When the party hit full swing
I saw you come reeling in
You had that six pack in a stranglehold
Now you stagger, now you sway
Why don't you fall the other way
'Cos I've got something here worth more than gold

Chorus:
Don't sit on my Jimmy Shands
Don't sit on my Jimmy Shands
They don't mend with sticky tape and glue
Don't sit on my Jimmy Shands
Don't sit on my Jimmy Shands
That's my very best advice to you

Call me precious, I don't mind
78s are hard to find
You just can't get the shellac since the war
This one's the Beltona brand
Finest label in the land
They don't make 'em like that anymore

Darling though you're twice my size
I don't mean to patronise
Honey, let me lead you by the hand
Find a lap or find a chair
You can park it anywhere
Just don't rest your cheeks against my man

No shindig is half complete
Without that famous polka beat
That's why they invite me, I suppose
Waltzes, strathspeyes, eightsome reels
Now you know how good it feels
Crank that handle, babe, away she goes

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Help: What are the Buchan Humlies
From: Bob Bolton
Date: 15 Mar 00 - 07:13 AM

G'day again,

Murray on Saltspring: From Sydney (Australia) I can't come up with too many local ways to research regional bands in Scotland - although this WWWeb is an astonishing aid to my researches.

What about the direct approach? Ask the man; now he is coming back to Earth after the Knighthood. (It's nice to see a gel that does what her mother tells her to!)

I presume that there is some sort of fan club for The Jimmy Shand Band - or, at least for his son's band, which he still augments on occasion. By God, there might even be a Web Site, run by wise people that know that computers and accordions can still live in the same multiverse!

Regards,

Bob Bolton (who plays concertina, mouthorgan, whistle, bones, lagerphone, tea-chest ['bush'] bass ... even [rarely] guitar and banjo ... but when he really wants power - plays button accordion!)

Subject: RE: Help: What are the Buchan Humlies
From: Metchosin
Date: 15 Mar 00 - 11:08 AM

Bob, there are quite a few websites regarding Jimmy Shand and also a review of his biography, but I never thought about asking the question there. Duh! Thanks for the suggestion. Seeing he is now ninety-two, or there abouts, I better make it quick.

Margret and Stewie, according to my brother, Richard Thompson once said in an interview or something, that his ambition was to be able to play the guitar the way Jimmy Shand played button accordion.

Also the Scots called their cattle "Doddies" and there is a reference to the "Angus Doddies" on these 78's (but not in the same manner as the Buchan Humlies). It also occured to me when I saw it, that both might be a good names for a Folk Groups.

Further, I was wondering if the North American cowboy term "doggies" was a corruption of the Scots word. It sure seems to me like a logical explanation.

Subject: RE: Help: What are the Buchan Humlies
From: Metchosin
Date: 15 Mar 00 - 11:24 AM

Oh yes, Murray, I have one 90 minute tape and appropriate documentation done so far, which I will send over later this week. It will take me a while to get the rest on tape, but it will be forthcoming also.

Bob, I used to cringe, at the thought of someone using the accordion ('cept maybe the concertina for Sea Shanties) for folk music, but after hearing the Shand records that I have, Shame on me! what an ignorant snob! Glad to hear you are keeping the faith. The Mist on the Mountains cut that Shand does, moves me to tears. Reminisent of the Ceilidh Band in the movie, Local Hero, only better.

Subject: RE: Help: What are the Buchan Humlies
From: Metchosin
Date: 15 Mar 00 - 11:37 AM

I knew there was some reason that Richard Thompson has always been my hero, thanks for all the information guys! Now when are the Brits going to get smart and make him Sir Richard Thompson?

Subject: RE: Help: What are the Buchan Humlies
From: Hoolet
Date: 15 Mar 00 - 05:17 PM

Here I am sitting in Buchan, fine folk club in Fyvie, as in the Bonnie lass of and a buchan hummlie is an Aberdeen Angus cow.

Subject: RE: Help: What are the Buchan Humlies
From: Metchosin
Date: 15 Mar 00 - 06:52 PM

Well Hoolet, how do you explain Jimmy Shand getting The Pap of Glencoe from Aberdeen Angus cows?

Subject: RE: Help: What are the Buchan Humlies
From: Thomas the Rhymer
Date: 15 Mar 00 - 09:00 PM

Buchan, Peter (1790-1854) b. Peterhead, Aberdeenshire,... printer.

"Ancient Ballads and Songs of the North Scotland" (1828)

"Scottish Traditional Versions of Ancient Ballads" (1845)

Subject: RE: Help: What are the Buchan Humlies
From: Bob Bolton
Date: 15 Mar 00 - 09:36 PM

G'day again,

Metchosin: Dooies - Doggies is certainly possible. A lot of Celts ended up in labouring jobs in America, including cowboying. A lot of Scottish influences were integrated and their origin forgotten. It amuses me to read the occasional American discussion of the (American!) origins of phrases such as OK. Long, specious and spurious tales of illiterate generals &c. ... Och Aye?

BTW: I rarely use Button Accordion for folk SONG (although it can be effective in large groups ... or with selective mixing by someone who understands folk music and song). The Button Accordion is Folk DANCE music personified ... and Jimmy Shand is its prophet!

My own speciality is what now constitutes an Australian dance music tradition - largely what has evolved by a mixture of selective memory, adaptation and native invention from a tradition that drew on the breadth of European dance tradition. The Button Accordion is apowerful tool in this style of music - but not EVERY tune or set. (unless your surname is Shand.)

Regards,

Bob Bolton

Subject: RE: Help: What are the Buchan Humlies
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 15 Mar 00 - 09:46 PM

"Och Aye"...you know, I'd never thought of that, even after a childhood reading the label on the OK Sauce bottle every mealtime.  It's entirely logical, and a lot more convincing than "Orl K'rect".  Does anyone have any more information?

Malcolm

Subject: RE: Help: What are the Buchan Humlies
From: GUEST
Date: 15 Mar 00 - 10:30 PM

All about the Buchan Humlies!!

Subject: RE: Help: What are the Buchan Humlies
From: GUEST
Date: 15 Mar 00 - 10:51 PM

I've searched through Jimmy Shand archives, and come up with nowt. The 'Humlies' in this instance were probably an old ceilidh band way back when. Still can't come up with anything though.

Subject: RE: Help: What are the Buchan Humlies
From: Bob Bolton
Date: 16 Mar 00 - 12:24 AM

G'day again,

AAARGH! How did I turn Doddies into Dooies? (Even better than Doddied into Doggies, which I meant to type.)

Malcolm Douglas: Och Aye is probably the most logical contender for source of OK ... but, we need to remember that the distinction between French languages is between the Langue d'oc and the Langue d'oïl.

The difference tells how they say yes: the modern, northern, 'standard' French was 'oïl' - the modern oui - while the Provencais said 'oc. If you had two bob each way, you might even say, emphatically, 'oc ,'oïl pronounced oak, ee).

Then of course, they were only carrying on the full (or part) Latin form for 'yes': hoc ille ...

Ah, yes...
OK...
'oc ,'oïl...
hoc ille ...

Regard(les)s,

Bob Bolton

Subject: RE: Help: What are the Buchan Humlies
From: GUEST,Jimmy
Date: 16 Mar 00 - 02:03 AM

My favorite story of Jimmy Shand is when "The High Level" reel was considered a challenge to accordion players, and some punter came up to Jimmy and asked him if he could play "The High Level". "Certainly," said Jimmy, "What key would you like that in?" Real button-key accordionists will know what is the most difficult key on the instrument.

Subject: RE: Help: What are the Buchan Humlies
From: GUEST
Date: 17 Mar 00 - 01:08 AM

I was always under the impression that a gentleman called Owen Kelly, who used to work as chief quality controller on the Ford Model T production line, used to write his initials on every car that he passed.

It's a popular theory only; I don't know for certain it's entymology

Subject: RE: Help: What are the Buchan Humlies
From: Margaret V
Date: 17 Mar 00 - 01:33 AM

And I always thought it had something to do with Martin Van Buren's Old Kinderhook party, but can't substantiate that. Love the cattle breeds website link, thanks!

Subject: RE: Help: What are the Buchan Humlies
From: Scabby Douglas
Date: 17 Mar 00 - 05:41 AM

OK was current long before Ford cars...

I read somewhere that there is a Native American word "Okeh" signifiying agreement... but I like Och Aye as a theory...

however I also read somewhere that "moccasin" derives from the the Gaelic "mo casan" ( apologise for the spelling) - "my feet".

Pick the bones out of that...

Jimmy Shand is the man.

Stevn C