Subject: Lyr Add: THE JEELIE PIECE SONG (SKYSCRAPER WEAN)
From:
GUEST,Landlady's Daughter
Date: 09 Apr 01 - 02:44 PM
Hi, I'm trying to fill in some gaps with regard to this wonderful high-rise housing protest song; I'm not sure what the correct spelling of Adam's last name is, what year the song was written, and whether the tune is composed or traditional; the tune sounds familiar to me. And is there an available recording? Pretty specific stuff but please help!
Height Starvation Song or Jeelie Piece Song
Moving into a subsidized 20-story high-rise building can be a mixed blessing as is suggested in this 1970's song from Scotland. Here, the high-rise children are lamenting the fact that their mothers can no longer toss them sandwiches or "pieces" from the balcony for lunch or snacks as they used to do in the traditional backyard tenements. This song, composed by urban poet and teacher Adam McNaughtan(?), is said to be still popular back in Glasgow.
Words by Adam McNaughtan? ©?
Recorded by Celia Fisher on
Tune: Traditional?
THE JEELIE PIECE SONG (SKYSCRAPER WEAN)
(Adam McNaughtan)
I'm a skyscraper wean, I live on the nineteenth flair,
But I'm no gaun oot to play ony mair,
Since we moved to Castlemilk, I'm wasting away,
'Cause I'm getting one less meal every day.
O ye cannae fling pieces oot a twenty-story flat,
Seven-hundred hungry weans will testify to that,
If it's butter, cheese or jeely, if the breid is plain or pan,
The odds against it reaching earth and ninety-nine to one.
On the first day my maw flung out a piece o' Hovis brown.
It came skyting oot the winda and went up insteid o' doon,
But every twenty-seven hours it comes back into sight,
'Cause my piece went into orbit and became a satellite.
One the second day my maw flung me a piece oot once again.
It went and hit the pilot in a fast, low-flying plane.
He scraped it off his goggles, shouting through the intercom:
`The Clydeside Reds have got me wi' a breid-and-jeely bomb!'
One the third day my maw thought she would try another throw.
The Salvation Army band was staunin' doon below.
`ONWARD, CHRISTIAN SOLDIERS' was the piece they should have played,
But the oompah-man was playing a piece-on-marmalade.
We've wrote away tae Oxfam to try and get some aid,
And a' the weans in Castlemilk have formed a ``Piece'' brigade;
We're going to march to George's Square, demanding civil rights,
Like `Nae Mair Hooses Over Piece-Flinging Height!'
@Scots @food filename[ JEELIEPC
Tune file : JEELIEPC
|
sj
