Lyr Req: The Shearing's Not for You

04 Nov 98 - 06:21 PM (#44236)
Subject: 'The Shearing's not for you' lyrics
From: [e-mail]

I'm trying to find the lyrics for this song and if there are any other variations of it. It's a traditional Scottish folk song.

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04 Nov 98 - 06:26 PM (#44238)
Subject: RE: 'The Shearing's not for you' lyrics
From: dick greenhaus

Try a search for "shearing's"

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04 Nov 98 - 08:36 PM (#44267)
Subject: Chords Add: THE SHEARIN'S NO FOR YOU
From: BRACKEN

SOODLUM'S 100 SCOTTISH SONGS

         G        D      Em      G      C     D
  Oh the shear-ins no for you my bonnie lassie oh
          G        D7      G             C     G
  Oh the shear-ins no for you my bonnie lassie oh
         C                Am          G       A      D
  Oh the shear-ins no for you for you back it winna bou
   D7      G        B7     Em     G      C   Am7 G
  and you bell-y's row-in fu' ma bonnie lass-ie oh

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04 Nov 98 - 09:35 PM (#44278)
Subject: RE: 'The Shearing's not for you' lyrics
From: Barry Finn

If you do a forum search you'll find a lengthy thread with a few different versions in it. Barry

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05 Nov 98 - 05:30 PM (#44379)
Subject: Lyr Add: THE SHEARIN'S NO FOR YOU
From: [e-mail]

Thanks folks for your help and here's the verses I had before. They're from a group called Finn MacCuill (or MacCool?) 70s ?

Oh the shearin's no for you ma bonnie lassie O
for your back it winna bou
and your belly's row-in fu' ma bonnie lassie O

Do you mind the banks awhere ....
when you drew me in your snare
Aye and left me in despair ...

Do you mind on yonder hill
When you swore you would me kill
If you did nae get your will

Oh that you might kill me deed
Oh I'll no kill ye deed (man singing)
Or mak your body bleed
But I'll marry you insteed ma bonnie lassie O

Tak the buckles frae your shoe
And put on your working goon
For your dancing days are done

The pipes do loudly play
And I must away for I can no longer stay
bonnie lassie O

As you can gather some of this song is sung by the man and some by the woman and she sings "Bonnie laddie O"

Many thanks for all your help I tried to sing a 'toned down' version of this at the Penny Theatre in Canterbury, Kent, UK last Sunday.

Roly

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06 Nov 98 - 10:57 PM (#44561)
Subject: RE: 'The Shearing's not for you' lyrics
From: rich r

A very pretty recent recording of this song was done by the Montana duo Wilson & McKee ("Strung Tight and Played Loose" 1997 Rimsong Music, Polson MT) . They claimed to have started doing it after hearing it at a Tannahill Weaveres concert.

rich r

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09 Nov 98 - 05:05 PM (#44697)
Subject: RE: 'The Shearing's not for you' lyrics
From:

G'day Mandy,

Just a minor point about the words:

"and your belly's row-in fu'..." I have always taken as: "and your belly's rollin fu' (rolling full) ..." i.e. she is heavily pregnant and thus not able to do very heavy work (although I once knew a lady, from the south of England, whose grandmother went back to work in the fields after giving birth during the lunch break!).

Regards,

Bob Bolton

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12 Nov 98 - 10:17 AM (#45097)
Subject: RE: 'The Shearing's not for you' lyrics
From: [e-mail]

I learned this beautiful song from one of the last CD´s of my favourite singer Colin Wilkie.

Snobby

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12 Nov 98 - 10:45 AM (#45099)
Subject: RE: 'The Shearing's not for you' lyrics
From: dick greenhaus

As a point of interest, shearing (in this sense) deals with harvesting crops, not denuding sheep. Which sort of kills the point of one of my favorite parodies (courtesy Holly Tannen):

The shearin's nae for you For ye've cut the lamb in two And we're having mutton stew Ma Bonnie lassie, O.

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19 Nov 98 - 03:59 AM (#46075)
Subject: RE: 'The Shearing's not for you' lyrics
From: skw@

Bob,
I have 'o'erfu'' in most of my versions. Alex Campbell distinctly sings 'roarin' fu'', and he also sings a totally different set of words. Here the woman is not made out to be the seductress but the victim of rape. I doubt I'd have loved the song quite as much if I'd started out with the other version. - Susanne

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