The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #130708 Message #2942993
Posted By: Anne Neilson
10-Jul-10 - 12:20 PM
Thread Name: Lyr Req: The Shepherd's Life (Will Scott)
Subject: Lyr Add: THE SHEPHERD'S LIFE (Wil Scott)
The song you want is an original from Willie Scott and I copy the lyrics from Alison McMorland's book 'Herd Laddie o' the Glen'.
THE SHEPHERD'S LIFE (Wil Scott)
1 I'm a shepherd and I rise ere the sun is in the skies, I can lamb the yowes wi' ony o' them a'. An' I like my flock to feed, an' look fresh an' fair indeed, But I wish the cauld east winds would never blaw.
CHORUS I can smear my sheep and dip, I can udderlock and clip, I can lamb the yowes wi' ony o' them a': I can parrock, I can twin, aye, an' cheat them wi' a skin, But `i wish the cauld east winds would never blaw.
2 When the winter time is here, for their lives I sometimes fear - Tae some sheltered nook my flock I'll gently ca': Or in the morning grey, I'll turn them tae the brae, Or seek them 'mang the too'rin' wreaths o' snaw.
3 In the lambing time I wot, it was little sleep I got, But when the summer's sunny breezes blaw, On yon bonnie hill, I'll lie and sleep my fill When the lambs are runnin' roon aboot me braw.
4 I can cut and merk and spean, or drive them to the train, Though their dams be rinnin' bleatin' in a raw; I can stand the mairket through, an' richt weel I sell them too, An' my maister's money safely bring it a'.
5 I can work in time o' need, I can sow or hoe or weed, I can swing the scythe wi' ony o' them a'; I can cut the corn and bin, an' richt braw stooks leave behin' That will stan' the Autumn winds when hooses fa'.
6 An' when I've done my wark, though the nicht be e'er sae dark, At a swaggerin' step I'll hie mysel' awa' To the lassie, dearest yin, she's the best aneath the sun - She'll name the day we'll be nae langer twa.
7 Now my neebor herds beware, when ye gang to show or fair, The fiery liquor never taste ava; Just thole your drouth awee till your ain braw hills ye'll see, An' the bonnie bubblin' streams will quell it a'.
Parrock - to get a ewe to accept another ewe's lamb, by confining them together in a small enclosure or parrock. Twinning - getting a stronger ewe to take a second lamb along with her own, sometimes helped by tying on the skin of a ewe's own dead lamb. Udderlock - gently pulling the wool off the udder for the lamb to suck.