The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #86963   Message #1620702
Posted By: Jim Dixon
05-Dec-05 - 06:13 PM
Thread Name: Lyr Req: Pawkie Paiterson's Auld Grey Yaud
Subject: Lyr Add: PAWKIE PAITERSON'S AULD GREY YAUD
Lyrics copied from ScotsteXt, where it is called a "rough scan." I assume this means the lyrics were input from a book by way of a scanner and an OCR program, and that no one has yet inspected the text for errors. There is another copy at the Reivers Recordings web site. You might want to compare these lyrics with those. I haven't done that in detail, but I notice this has 8 verses while the other has 7.

PAWKIE PAITERSON'S AULD GREY YAUD
By John "Soapy" Ballantyne, c.1830

As Aw was guan up Hawick Loan
    Yeh Monanday at morn,
Aw heard a puir auld grey meer
    Gie mony a heavy groan—
Gie mony a heavy groan, sir,
    And this she said to mei—
"Aw'm Pawkie Paiterson's auld grey yaud,
    Sei how they're guiden' mei!

"The miller o' Hawick Mill bred mei
    And that Aw du weel ken;
The miller o' Hawick Mill fed mei
    Wi' mony a sort o' corn.
But now the case is altered,
    And this ye plainly sei—
"Aw'm Pawkie Paiterson's auld grey yaud,
    Sei how they're guiden' mei!

"When a' the rest's set to the corn
    Aw'm sent oot to the fog;
When a' the rest's set to the haye
    Aw'm sent oot to the bog.
It's Aw gaed into Hawick Moss,
    'Twas like to swally mei—
"Aw'm Pawkic Paiterson's auld grey yaud,
    Sei how they're guiden' mei!

"And as for Nellie Harkness
    She ryses in the morn,
And cries—'O Godsake, uncle!
    The yaud's amang the corn.'
Hei tuik his muckle plew-staff
    And cam' and swabbled mei—
"Aw'm Pawkie Paiterson's auld grey yaud,
    Sei how they're guiden' mei!

"And Rob Young o' the Back Raw,
    Hei's of'en shod ma clutes,
Sae Aw wull leave him ma shank banes
    To bei a pair o' butes.
If hei push his legs weel in them,
    They'll come up till his knei—
"Aw'm Pawkie Paiterson's auld grey yaud,
    Sei how they're guiden' mei!

"And as for Peggie Duncan,
    She is a bonnie lass,
Sae Aw wull leave her ma een holes
    Tae bei a squintin' glass—
Tae gar her eyn sei strechter,
    For they of'en stand aglei—
"Aw'm Pawkie Patterson's auld grey yaud,
    Sei how they're guiden' mei!

"As for the minister o' Wilton,
    His coat it is worn thin,
And for to keep him thrae the cauld
    Aw'll leave him ma auld skin,
Wi' hide and hair, to keep him warm
    As lang as it's dune mei—
"Aw'm Pawkie Paiterson's auld grey yaud,
    Sei how they're guiden' mei!

"And as for Stonie Stewart,
    He's of'en scarce o' stanes,
And for to mend his auld fail dykes
    Aw'll leave him ma auld banes;
And a' the callants o' Hawick Loan
    Wull make banefires o' mei—
"Aw'm Pawkie Paiterson's auld grey yaud,
    Sae that's the end o' mei!"

[Recorded by Deaf Shepherd on "Synergy," Greentrax CD 143, 1998, where it is called PAWKIE PAITERSON; also by Brian Johnstone on "Music Whaur I'm Frae: Songs o' the Scots-Anglo Border, Volume 2," Reivers Recordings, 2003.]