Origins: Jock Stewart-Man You Don't Meet Every Day

Subject: Lyr Req: I'm a man you don't meet every day
From: jimlad
Date: 21 Jan 03 - 04:55 AM

Lyrics needed for..

I'm a man you don't meet every day.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I'm a man you don't meet every day
From: IanC
Date: 21 Jan 03 - 04:58 AM

Jock Stuart. I thought it was in DT but couldn't see it. There's quite a lot about it in various threads, though.

Beware of the words!

:-)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I'm a man you don't meet every day
From: Mr Happy
Date: 21 Jan 03 - 04:59 AM

type 'I'm a man you don't meet every day' into DT search- its there

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I'm a man you don't meet every day
From: Mr Happy
Date: 21 Jan 03 - 05:03 AM

The dt, Digital Tradition search box is at top left of page marked:Lyrics & Knowledge Search.

just put in any words you know of any song & it should find it for you.

ps, ianc it's jock stewart.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I'm a man you don't meet every day
From: IanC
Date: 21 Jan 03 - 05:10 AM

MrH.

Yes I was looking directly for Stuart and therein lay the problem. Spelling's a trouble with DT ... like the Moray/Murray thing. Pity there's not a soundex search, which would level all that out.

:-)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I'm a man you don't meet every day
From: Mr Happy
Date: 21 Jan 03 - 05:15 AM

yes thats so- i've had lots of complaints from some us mcs about lyr reqs- they saying they're in dt- but i can scarcely ever find anything there with words i already have.

in fact, i was surprised when i put I'm a man you don't meet every day in the search & it canme up straight away.

ps. wanna chat? on mudchat?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I'm a man you don't meet every day
From: Green Man
Date: 21 Jan 03 - 06:09 AM

A Line from the son 'Dick DArby' or The tinker.


Me name is Dick Darby I'm a tinker,
A man you don't meet every day
Some call me an old agitator etc.

Been singing it for years.

There are a lot of 'versions'

:-)
GM

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I'm a man you don't meet every day
From: Suffet
Date: 21 Jan 03 - 06:27 AM

And here are some new lyrics you can use with children as an ice breaker. It's also a great way to teach children waltz time. You help each child sing his/her own verse to introduce him/herself to the next child, and so forth until each child has had a turn. The tune is taken from Jock Stewart. Click here for a link to the original You can follow links from that site to sound files.

---- Steve


COME SINGING WITH ME
Music: Jock Stewart (traditional)
New lyrics: Stephen L. Suffet © 2002

My name it is [name of child]
I'm a handsome young lad [lass],
And I'm happy to call you my friend,
So count one, two, three,
And come singing with me,
And together we'll sing without end.


Examples:

My name it is Sarah
I'm a handsome young lass,
And I'm happy to call you my friend,
So count one, two, three,
And come singing with me,
And together we'll sing without end.

My name it is Sean,
I'm a handsome young lad,
And I'm happy to call you my friend,
So count one, two, three,
And come singing with me,
And together we'll sing without end.


Variations:

Substitute "dancing" for "singing" and "dance" for "sing," like so:

My name it is Wanda,
I'm a handsome young lass,
And I'm happy to call you my friend,
So count one, two, three,
And come dancing with me,
And together we'll dance without end.


Or "waltzing" and "waltz," for example:

My name it is Ishmael,
I'm a handsome young lad,
And I'm happy to call you my friend,
So count one, two, three,
And come waltzing with me,
And together we'll waltz without end.


And a possible last verse which the leader can sing:

My name it is [your own name]
I'm a handsome old lad [lass],
And I'm happy to call you my friend,
So count one, two, three,
And come singing with me,
And together we'll sing to the end.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I'm a man you don't meet every day
From: GUEST,Guest
Date: 21 Jan 03 - 07:47 AM

Greetings. You may be looking for this one, taken from a Tannahill Weaver Web Page:

Well my name is Jock Stewart, I'm a canny gaun man
Though a rovin' young fellow I've been

Chorus:
    So be easy and free, when you're drinking with me
    I'm a man you don't meet every day

And its oft have I sat with both bottle and friend
Is there ae man could e'er ask for more?

Chorus

Let us catch well the hours and the minutes that fly
Let us share them sae weel while we may

Chorus

So come fill up your glass with whisky or wine
And whatever the price I will pay

Chorus

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I'm a man you don't meet every day
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 21 Jan 03 - 11:13 AM

Various texts of this song have been posted here over the years, and are quite easily found by running a search for a characteristic phrase. Often people have the wrong title for a song (or the DT does) or there are alternative titles or spellings, particularly of names, so a search for a title, though it may work, will often not be so successful.

You've been here long enough to start using that search engine for yourself now, Jim. You may not realise that threads are archived here permanently, so every one you start asking for material which is already here will stay here and make it a bit harder for people to find useful information in the future.

Here is a list of references which we already have:

JOCK STEWART -the DT file. A mix-and-match text collated from recordings by Archie Fisher (who recorded a modified arrangement of Jeannie Robertson's traditional set) and Ian McGregor; withj tune.

Help: (I'm a) A Man You Don't Meet Every Day -a long thread started by somebody who had heard the Pogues' arrangement. Contains one text (unprovenanced), some useful comments on the song's history, and a lot of pointless guff about whether or not he shot his dog...

I'm a Man You Don't Meet Everyday -another thread started by the same person. Some more background; text from the Stewarts of Blair (I think) and some overlap into discussion of Muldoon the Solid Man. Includes links to other discussions of both songs, and a broadside copy of an earlier (Stage-Irish) form of I'm a Man You Don't Meet Every Day at the Bodleian Library.

There. Easy.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I'm a man you don't meet every day
From: IanC
Date: 21 Jan 03 - 12:50 PM

It's a rather odd thing but, when I was in Dumfries a year or two ago, I was told - as part of an otherwise forgettable conversation in a pub - that the Jock Stewart of the song was reputed to be a notable singer from Eskdale. Indeed, I had even forgotten this until this thread reminded me.

I'd always been puzzled a bit as to why an apparently Scottish song used the Northern English meaning of the word "canny", so a home for it in the border country (where the meaning of a word might be less unequivocal) seemed to me at least to make some sense.

This afternoon, being bored, I did an internet search on JOCK STEWART ESKDALE using Vivisimo. I found a number of references to Samuel Smiles Life of Thomas Telford.

Searching for Stewart in the text, I came across the following quote (following Telford's visit to a concert by Mrs. Jordan).

"It was all very fine," he said, "I have no doubt; but I would not give a song of Jock Stewart *[10] for the whole of them.

In a footnote, it says that Jock Stewart was

An Eskdale crony. His son, Colonel Josias Stewart, rose to eminence in the East India Company's service, having been for many years Resident at Gwalior and Indore.

Nothing positive, and I wouldn't suggest that this provides any real evidence, but it seems that the notable Jock Stewart from Eskdale did at least exist.

:-)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I'm a man you don't meet every day
From: Joe Offer
Date: 21 Jan 03 - 01:54 PM

Hi, Ian - when we went to Whitby Folk week, Dick and Susan and I stayed in Eskdale, which is now a reasonably modern housing development on the south side of Whitby. Is the Whitby Eskdale the town of song and fable? If not, where is the well-known Eskdale?
-Joe Offer-

---

Here's the entry from the Traditional Ballad Index:

Jock Stewart (The Man You Don't Meet Every Day)

DESCRIPTION: (Jock Stewart) invites the company to enjoy his generosity. "So be easy and free when you're drinking with me; I'm a man you don't meet every day" The singer may talk of his well-built hut, his hunting trips, or whatever people discuss in pubs
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1935 (Randolph)
KEYWORDS: drink hunting friend
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland) Ireland US(So) Australia Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Randolph 476, "The Man You Don't Meet Every Day" (1 text)
Meredith/Covell/Brown, pp. 161-162, 286, "A Man You Don't Meet Every Day" (2 texts, 2 tunes, heavily localized)
DT, JSTEWART*
Roud #975
RECORDINGS:
Hector MacIsaac and Jerome Downey, "A Man You Don't Meet Every Day" (on NFHMacIsaac01)
Cornelius O'Sullivan, "I'm a Man You Don't Meet Every Day" (Victor 79126, late 1920s-early 1930s)
Belle, Sheila, and Cathie Stewart, "Jock Stewart" (on SCStewartsBlair01)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Bound to Australia" (meter, floating lyrics)
cf. "The First of the Emigrants" (tune, meter, chorus)
cf. "The Hard Working Miner" (tune, form)
File: R476

---

Go to the Ballad Search form
Go to the Ballad Index Song List

Go to the Ballad Index Instructions
Go to the Ballad Index Bibliography or Discography

The Ballad Index Copyright 2015 by Robert B. Waltz and David G. Engle.
And the Digital Tradition entry:

OCK STEWART

(CDEG) CG/CGF/CGC

Now, my name is Jock Stewart
I'm a canny gaun man,
And a roving young fellow, I've been.

So be easy and free
When you're drinkin wi' me.
I'm a man you don't meet every day.

I have acres of land;
I have men at command;
(And)
I have always a shilling to spare.
(And many )

Now, I took out my gun,
With my dog I did shoot,
All down by the River Kildare
(banks of the Try)

I'm a piper by trade
And a roving young blade
And many a tune I do play

Let us catch well the hours
And the minutes that fly
And we'll share them together this day

So, come fill up your glasses
Of brandy and wine,
And whatever the cost, I will pay.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

The song is an Irish narrative ballad that has been shortened to
an Aberdeenshire drinking song. It is essentially Jeannie
Robertson's version, slightly modified by Archie Fisher in the
third verse so the dog doesn't get shot. It is alternatively
claimed by the Singing Stewarts to have been written for Bell's
father.

Recorded by Archie Fisher on "The Man With A Rhyme," Folk
Legacy, FSS-61, Copyright 1976.

The fourth and fifth verses are from the singing of Ian McGregor

@Scottish @drink @friendship @chorus
filename[ JSTEWART
TUNE FILE: JSTEWART
CLICK TO PLAY
DC

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I'm a man you don't meet every day
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 21 Jan 03 - 02:06 PM

We have dates considerably earlier than theirs in the other discussions!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I'm a man you don't meet every day
From: jimlad
Date: 21 Jan 03 - 03:16 PM

Hey Joe

I've just returned from a long weekend in the King George IV Inn which is situated at the Western end of Eskdale in the English Lake District,Cumbria.The dale runs East/West for about 5 miles.It's Eastern end rises steeply 33%(1in3) at times and passes via Hardknott Pass into Langdale.Hardknott Pass has the remains of a Roman Fort which guarded the route from the Copper and Lead mines in Langdale to the Roman port of Ravenglass about 10 miles from Eskdale.For beauty Eskdale is without compare in my humble opinion. Also the KGIV is one of the finest Inns in England,roaring open log fire,stone flagged floors,Theakstons Old Peculier(aka Milk of Amnesia),Jennings Snecklifter(Rocket fuel),Wobbly Bob,Old Horizontal,and one for the ladies at 4.8%abv Piston Broke,Ales on Draught. The food is excellent too.
If I die and wake up at the bar of the KGIV I'll know i've made it to Heaven.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I'm a man you don't meet every day
From: Joe Offer
Date: 21 Jan 03 - 03:29 PM

Thanks, Jim - the Lake District seems to be a more fitting setting for The Eskdale Hare. Whitby is lovely, but the Eskdale development there is rather dreary.
Malcolm, remember that the "Earliest Date" category in the Traditional Ballad Index is the earliest date of the song in the publications covered by the Ballad Index. It is not an attempt to give an actual earliest date for the song itself. It's a very handy thing in many ways, but it is a bit misleading unless you read the introduction to the Ballad Index.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I'm a man you don't meet every day
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 21 Jan 03 - 10:04 PM

You and I know that; but the explanation is there, not here; so that information quoted here is more likely to mislead people. It often has in the past, even when we've just put in links to the entry at the Index site. A lot of people who come here looking for information really won't understand the difference.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I'm a man you don't meet every day
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 21 Jan 03 - 10:09 PM

Back in the late 1940's, I heard this fairly frequently in Irish bars. The chorus was the same, but the tune was "Believe Me If All Those Endearing Young Charms (My lodging is in the Cold Ground)". Sadly, I disremember the verses.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I'm a man you don't meet every day
From: IanC
Date: 22 Jan 03 - 04:12 AM

Joe

There are 3 "Eskdales" that I know of. One around Whitby, one in the English Lake District and one in Dumfriesshire, Scotland. The last of thse is where Thomas Telford (and his Jock Stewart) came from. If you're looking on MULTIMAPS, the Lake District one comes up. Look for ESKDALEMUIR to get the Scottish one.

:-)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I'm a man you don't meet every day
From: greg stephens
Date: 22 Jan 03 - 05:08 AM

Confusing all these Eskdales: but not surprising, as Esk means "water" or "river"(as does Avon). it was not only the celts who used these rather non-specific geographical names. There is a river in East Anglia called "The River".