Lyr. Add: THE DANDYLION CLOCK
Alexander Hay, 1879
Tune: "Days We Went A-gipsying"

When wor aud toon was the aud toon,
Wi' mony a grassy nyuk,
And posies ivvoreewhere adorn'd
It like sum pikter-byuk;
We lay above the sighin' burn,
On hills ov fern and rock,
To blaw thaw balloon life away,
Maw "dandylion clock,"

Two bonnie lasses and me-sel,
But bairns- dash! hoo we play'd
Wi' buttercups and daisies pure,
And babby-hooses made.
Before the manly cares cam oot
To gie won's heart a shock,
We lay and blaw'd to tell the time-
The "dandylion clock."

Luk! the dear sunshine's teeming doon
Neagarrays of joy,
On Lizzie's bonnie curly heed,
Like dolls her lovin' toy,
It sparkles like the goold itsel-
Aw might hev had a lock
Is easy as aw blew for her
The "dandylion clock."

And there wis little katie, tee,
Whe's figur aw wad paint;
But God saves me the trubbil noo,
He's tyun hur to the saint,
And Lizzie tee's an angel gud,
Iv her brite lalock frock;
Aw think aw see her blawin' yit
The "dandylion clock."

Alexander Hay was born in Newcastle in 1826. Apprenticed as a cabinet maker, he took to the sea as a ship's carpenter. He was "brutally used" for writing a song damning the skipper ("Board of Trade, Ahoy," which he recited at a public meeting in Limehouse, with Samuel Plimsoll in the chair. He later was a tutor, a journalist and at London worked on the Great Exhibition of 1862. He contributed songs, including this one, to the Newcastle press.
From "Allan's Illustrated Edition of Tyneside Songs," 1862, latest ed. 1972 (from ed. of 1891), pp. 560-562.