The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #104172   Message #3521944
Posted By: Jim Dixon
02-Jun-13 - 01:57 PM
Thread Name: Lyr Req: Jean Jamieson's Ghost
Subject: Lyr Add: JEAN JEEMISON'S BANNET
From Curling in Canada and the United States by John Kerr (Edinburgh: Geo. A. Morton, 1904), page 566:

Another song which was something of a favourite was, "Jean Jeemison's Bannet," which I sang ad nauseam, to the team at least. This outrageous song is without merit as regards words, but can be made amusing or grotesque by sufficient courage on the part of the singer.

Here is "Jean Jeemison" in puris.


[CHORUS] Did you ever hear tell o' Jean Jeemison's bannet?
Did you ever hear tell o' Jean Jeemison's bannet?
'Twas no' for itsel' but the ornaments on it,
Gar't a'body talk o' Jean Jeemison's bannet.

[1] The bannet was theekit frae summit to base
Wi' ribbands and feathers, surmounted wi' lace;
An' roon in the front, that her clan ye might know,
The Jeemison tartan was tied in a bow.

[2] Noo whaur it was made was a wunnerfu' plicht,
Some deemed it was magic and cam' in the nicht,
But o' a' the conjectures ae thing it was plain,
It wasna' the wark o' ae genius alane.

[3] The pearls o' the ocean were strung on a string,
An' they dangled aroon this extraordinary thing,
And that they might a' be secure frae a poo,
There were buckles o' goold that had come frae Peru.

[4] To croon the erection a Paradise bird
Quite a superior beauty conferred,
Wi' its wings spreading oot, that a'body micht see't,
An' it waggit aboot as she nodded her heid.

[5] At nicht no' a body wid be seen in the street,
The very policeman relinquished his beat,
For he swore that a' nicht it perambled the toon
An' stoppit the clocks and put oot the moon.

[6] At the curling the curlers had on their big match,
An' hunners cam' oot frae Paisley to watch,
An' Renfrew was winnin' on every rink
When the horrible bannet appeared on the brink.

[7] A' then indeed was a waefu' collection,
Na need for the skips to gie ony direction
To guard or to draw or brack an egg on it,
For they a' drew a bore on Jean Jeemison's bannet.

[8] The President in wrath through the crowd quickly cleared,
An' made for Jean wi' his besom upreared,
An' bringing it doon, when lo! in a trice
The bannet was playing a dance on the ice.

[9] Auld Bailie M'Nab, wha was comin' alang,
Happened to step whaur the bannet was gaun,
An' he houtet and coupet an' landed richt on it,
An' bang thro' the ice went the bailie and the bannet.

[10] Well, they rescued the bailie and put him to bed,
Wi' a pain in his chest and a bad daud on his head,
But the bannet—altho' they attempted the water to drain —
It never appeared in the parish again.

[11] An' noo 'mang the auld wives aboot Paisley the tale is
When they see the Rainbow or the 'Rora Boralis,
Or a cloud in the west wi' the sun setting on it,
They tell to the bairns "Yon's Jean Jeemison's bannet."