Lyr Req: Ten Wee Women? / Ten Wee Wimmin

Subject: Lyr request: Ten Wee Women
From: GUEST
Date: 24 Jul 04 - 10:16 AM

Heard Tommy Makem sing Douglas Kynoch's Ten Wee Women at Lowell Folk Fest. Marvelously stick-like-a-burr song. I defy you to hear it and not end up singing it until you go mad.

Have searched the web at length but found no clue to it, not even after putting a request on Tommy's forum.

Can anyone supply the correct lyrics?

Bob Coltman

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ten Wee Women
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 25 Jul 04 - 12:43 PM

Is this the same Douglas Kynoch? When I search for his name, I get only references to his books. I can't find any reference to him in relation to music.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ten Wee Women
From: Joe Offer
Date: 25 Jul 04 - 01:08 PM

I see that Susanne (SKW) is also looking for lyrics. Maybe she'll stop by and notice this. Bob, can you tell us any more about the song, the gist of the story, etc.?
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ten Wee Women
From: GUEST
Date: 26 Jul 04 - 09:15 AM

This is what I know about the song so far in my delving:
   I did the same websearches and could not find the text either.
   The attribution to Douglas Kynoch comes not from Tommy Makem, but from a Danish website I found:   
             http://mysongbook.de/msb/songs/t/t_titel.html
which lists the song as by Kynoch.
   Tommy said nothing about the song except that he supposed it must be his current favorite, as he had woken up every morning for a year with it in his head. I sympathize! It's killingly catchy and very funny.
   The song has to do with a group of ten wee women waiting hopelessly for a Number 42 bus in, I believe, Aberdeen???, Scotland (No, not Maryland.) It goes roughly like so:

Ten wee women, standin' in a queue (2)
And if one wee women tries to stop a forty-two,
There'll be nine wee women standin' in a queue.

Nine wee women standin' in a queue...

So, you see, it's a countdown song. As the bus goes on endlessly not arriving, the women have various reasons for giving up and leaving the bus stop. Such as:

If one wee woman says I've left a pot of stew...
If one wee woman turns an awful shade of blue...
If one wee woman says I think I've got the flu...

You begin to see the drift. At the end the last wee woman leaves the queue, and the final verse is:

No wee women standin' in a queue (2)
Along came seven buses, every one a forty-two,
But there were no wee women standin' in a queue.

To have remembered that much from a single hearing shows you just how brain-grabbing this song is. It deserves to be on everyone's lips! No, wait, the world would go mad.....

Melody is itchily familiar yet I can't place it. In the C scale it goes like so:
C C C E, D C D E C
E E E G, F E F G E
C C / A A G E E E D E D C .A
.G .A / C C C E, D C D E C
Surely this will ring a bell with somebody? It's on the tip of my brain.......

Bob

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ten Wee Women
From: belfast
Date: 26 Jul 04 - 09:20 AM

'Ten Green Bottles' is the tune.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ten Wee Women
From: belfast
Date: 26 Jul 04 - 09:31 AM

To elaborate. The answer to the melody bit seemed so obvious that I thought someone was taking the piss. I've never come across this version but as soon as I read a verse the melody was in my head. The nates above confirmed what I suspected. The notation given is very accurate. Well done. The original version, "ten green bottles sitting on a wall", is a bloody nightmare.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ten Wee Women
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 26 Jul 04 - 11:59 PM

TEN GREEN BOTTLES seems to be the British equivalent of the American song NINETY-NINE BOTTLES OF BEER. Does this mean British kids have shorter attention spans than American kids? Or do they just go on shorter bus trips?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ten Wee Women
From: GUEST,Tom Hamilton
Date: 27 Jul 04 - 05:29 AM

The singer that sang the song was Alistair McDonald, and the reaon we sing 'ten green bottles' is because we as children don't drink as much.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ten Wee Women
From: GUEST,belfast sans cookie
Date: 27 Jul 04 - 06:24 AM

And I trust that no one is suggesting that because I live in Belfast I am British. Even my bottles are green.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ten Wee Women
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 28 Jul 04 - 06:43 PM

Belfast: No, I didn't even notice your name. Before I posted, I had searched the Forum for "Green Bottles" and read this thread which refers to it as an English song. I broadened it a bit by saying "British." Evidently I didn't broaden it enough.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ten Wee Women
From: Dave Bryant
Date: 29 Jul 04 - 05:42 AM

Sorry, I thought this was a thread about incontinent females.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ten Wee Women
From: GUEST,Kenny B Sans Kukie
Date: 29 Jul 04 - 11:26 PM

Words will be available in about a week

Subject: Lyr Add: TEN WEE WIMMIN (Douglas Kynoch)
From: Kenny B (inactive)
Date: 01 Aug 04 - 12:09 AM

Ten Wee Wimmin
Douglas Kynoch
ASB Alastair McDonald on CD "Scottish Laughlines"

Ten wee wimmin staunin in the queue,
Ten wee wimmin staunin in the queue,
And if wan wee wumman couldnae stop a forty-two,
There was nine wee wimmin staunin in the Queue
Nine wee wimmin staunin in the Queue,
And when wan wee wumman saw a motorist she knew,
There were eight wee wimmin staunin in the Queue,
Eight wee wimmin staunin in the Queue
And if wan wee wumman took a taxi tae the b'ru,
There were seven wee wimmin staunin in the queue,
Seven wee wimmin staunin in the Queue,
Seven wee wimmin staunin in the Queue,
And if wan wee wumman said she'd left a pot o' stew,
There were six wee wimmin staunin in the queue,
Six wee wimmin staunin in the Queue,
And if wan wee wumman said she'd better things tae do,
There were five wee wimmin staunin in the Queue,
Five wee wimmin staunin in the Queue,
And if wan wee wumman had tae rush tae find the loo,
There were fower wee wimmin staunin in the Queue,

Fower wee wimmin staunin in the queue,
Fower wee wimmin staunin in the queue,
And if wan wee wumman turned a funny shade of blue,
And another wee wumman said "I think I've got the flu",
And another wee wumman said "I think I've got it too",
And the last wee wumman said "Ye know what ye's can do",
There were nae wee wimmin staunin in the queue,

Nae wee wimmin staunin in the queue
Nae wee wimmin staunin in the queue
And when nae wee wimmen were staunin in the queue
Then alang came seven busses, every wan a forty-two

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ten Wee Women
From: Joe Offer
Date: 01 Aug 04 - 01:07 AM

It was worth waiting for. Thanks, Kenny.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ten Wee Women
From: GUEST
Date: 04 Aug 04 - 09:51 AM

And thanks from me, too. Good work, Kenny. Bob Coltman

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ten Wee Women
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 08 Aug 04 - 01:25 PM

If I understand correctly, all the verses have 4 lines except the one beginning "Fower wee wimmin," which has 7 lines. Each verse begins with a new number, and the first line of each verse is repeated as the second line.

I thought I'd better clarify this, since the above lyrics omit some of the stanza breaks as well as some of the repeated lines.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ten Wee Women
From: GUEST,Kenny B Sans Kuki.
Date: 08 Aug 04 - 01:57 PM

Its the way he sings it! :<}>

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ten Wee Women? / Ten Wee Wimmin
From: GUEST,Jeff
Date: 19 Jul 11 - 10:54 AM

Hello. I actually heard a live recording of this song on XM Radio and have been trying to find a copy to buy. I don't suppose any of you know of an album or anything where this exists?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ten Wee Women? / Ten Wee Wimmin
From: BrooklynJay
Date: 19 Jul 11 - 11:33 AM

According to Kenny B.'s earlier post, it was sung by Alastair McDonald on his CD "Scottish Laughlines."

Though, I wouldn't know if this is the live version you are referring to. I'm sure there are others out there.

Jay

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ten Wee Women? / Ten Wee Wimmin
From: Bernard
Date: 19 Jul 11 - 11:45 AM

Try here

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ten Wee Women? / Ten Wee Wimmin
From: GUEST,Jeff
Date: 19 Jul 11 - 04:51 PM

The XM radio display said it was Tommy Makem, as did the d.j. I've tried contacting XM, but that's been a bust so far. Of course, they could have been messed up.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ten Wee Women? / Ten Wee Wimmin
From: BrooklynJay
Date: 19 Jul 11 - 08:02 PM

It appears the Tommy Makem version is from the album Let's Get Together. Click here for info.

This song may also be available for downloading (for a fee) in MP3 format. I say "may" because the following website is in German, and I don't speak the language - click here.

Not sure if the download is the exact same version from the earlier album - it comes form the 2007 release The Legendary Tommy Makem Collection.

The rest is up to you.

Jay

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ten Wee Women? / Ten Wee Wimmin
From: goatfell
Date: 20 Jul 11 - 08:31 AM

Thank you for the words

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ten Wee Women? / Ten Wee Wimmin
From: GUEST,Jeff
Date: 25 Jul 11 - 11:22 AM

BrooklynJay,

    Thanks for the information. I was able to use it to track the song down. It was part of the 2005 "Let's Get Together" album from the World Folk Music Association. This is the link http://wfma.net/cd20.htm

Many thanks, everyone!!!