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Lyr Req: The Lum Hat Wantin' the Croon |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Lum Hat Wantin' the Croon From: Jim Dixon Date: 24 Aug 17 - 04:31 PM The entire book The Auld Doctor and Other Poems and Songs in Scots, by David Rorie, M.D. (London: Constable & Company Ltd., 1920), can be downloaded in PDF format here: https://www.forgottenbooks.com/en/download/TheAuldDoctor_10502298.pdf THE LUM HAT WANTIN' THE CROON is on page 4. I think the words are the same as those posted by Murray on Saltspring above, but the punctuation is considerably different (a lot more apostrophes and some quotation marks). |
Subject: RE: A lum hat wantin' a croon From: John Nolan Date: 30 Jan 99 - 10:41 AM Murray - in the version I know, every last line (except the errant verse) finishes with the word Mahoun - meaning the Devil, and then the line is repeated. E.g. A lum hat wantin' a croon, Mahoun, A lum hat wantin' a croon. By the time this song drifted south, "firing" - a word foreign to us Borderers - had become "raiment" and hake (from the low German word for hook) had lost its specific meaning, it seems. Pandora's box, awricht! This song was part of the Border folksinger Eck Elliot's repertoire, playing at shepherds' suppers, kirns and the like, in the '50s and '60s. |
Subject: RE: A lum hat wantin' a croon From: Murray on Saltspring Date: 30 Jan 99 - 02:17 AM The fish-hake isn't a hook, it's a frame for drying fish, made of wood, like the gate, hence the reference to "firing", = fuel. The food is the skate; what she was to do with the top hat we can only guess. But the variant verse is interesting--only thing is, it isn't in the pattern of the rest, which I assure you is the "right" version. David Rorie was a bard of the North-East of Scotland, circa 1910 maybe, who wrote several good poems, including "MacFadden and MacPhee", which may be on one of Jean Redpath's records--she certainly used to sing it with gusto, to the (English) tune of "Barbara Allan". |
Subject: RE: A lum hat wantin' a croon From: Susan of DT Date: 28 Jan 99 - 07:54 PM Thanx Murray, I wasn't looking forward to scribing that off the record. |
Subject: RE: A lum hat wantin' a croon From: John Nolan Date: 28 Jan 99 - 06:44 PM A great muckle skate is a great muckle Pandora's box because a skate is a fish of temperate seas. Yet it is associated with an old fish hook in this song. However we are not talking river estuary here, because the skate, like the lady astride of the gate, floated past village and cottage and town. So how did a salt water fish get in the upper reaches of a river? On the other hand a "skate" is a contemptuous term for a stupid or objectionable person, as we gather the floating lady was from her crotchety remark to the fisherman (or sailor in my version). But could not the great muckle skate be a great muckle slidy thing you strap on your foot? No, because there's food and there's raiment gaun doun tae the sea. The raiment is the top hat. The food must be the skate, perhaps with an intentional self-depracatory pun by the song's stupid author. |
Subject: RE: A lum hat wantin' a croon From: Jon W. Date: 28 Jan 99 - 03:01 PM What is a great muckle skate, anyway? |
Subject: RE: A lum hat wantin' a croon From: John Nolan Date: 28 Jan 99 - 08:07 AM Murray: Thanks very much. The only real difference I can remember is in verse two.
An auld wife stood on the bank |
Subject: RE: A lum hat wantin' a croon From: Murray Date: 28 Jan 99 - 03:10 AM Sorry--verse 6 lost a line-- should go like this:
There's a man overboard, cried he.
The vocabulary is pretty think with the north-east dialect--if you have any questions, ask. |
Subject: Lyr Add: THE LUM HAT WANTIN THE CROON (D Rorie) From: Murray on Saltspring Date: 28 Jan 99 - 03:06 AM THE LUM HAT WANTIN THE CROON [by David Rorie]
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Subject: RE: A lum hat wantin' a croon From: Susan of DT Date: 25 Jan 99 - 07:18 PM ok, but it will probably be a few days. And I might find it easier than I remember - that was my first record of Redpath and I have listened to her a lot since. |
Subject: RE: A lum hat wantin' a croon From: John Nolan Date: 25 Jan 99 - 07:54 AM Susan of DT: I'd be grateful if you post what you think she's saying. I know at least half of it, and have heard the rest often enough to recognize it if my memory gets jogged. (It's all in my Border dialect.) Then I could repost what is a little known gem. |
Subject: RE: A lum hat wantin' a croon From: Susan of DT Date: 24 Jan 99 - 09:33 PM It's on Redpath's early record, Skipping Barefoot thru the Heather. If I remember correctly, it was dificult to catch words on that one, so I won't volunteer to try to get them off the record unless you get desperate. |
Subject: A lum hat wantin' a croon From: John Nolan Date: 23 Jan 99 - 03:26 PM Anybody have all the words of A Lum hat Wantin' a Croon? |
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