Here's a song I mentioned earlier:


Aul' Jockey Bruce o' the Fornet

At Martinmas time when I gaed to the fair,
To view the young lassies and to get the fresh air,
And I fee'd wi' a mannie to work a third pair,
It was aul' Jockey Bruce o' the Fornet.

On a Sunday mornin' he taunted an' teased,
Cam oot o' the stable wi' a flagon o' grease,
Rubbed the horse weel doon frae the queets to the knees
For they're a' cripple nags at the Fornet.

The sun it cam oot,it had melted the grease,
An' oot frae the hive cam a hale swairm o' bees,
But I says to mysel':It's a plague o' the fleas,
Cam doon wi' the lads o' the Fornet.

Noo oor foreman chiel he cam frae Balquhain,
He eenst was a navvie,and wrocht on the line,
He feeds his horse weel but he hangs in the twine,
For the wark's aye ahind at the Fornet.

Here's tae oor second,he's a strappin' young chiel,
Tae dae his wark,it sets him right weel,
He wisna lang hame,he thocht he would heel,
An' he never looked back tae the Fornet.

A loon he was fee'd tae advance an' retire,
Atween the neep-park an' the aul' coo-byre,
But he wisna lang hame,he seemed soon to tire
O' aul' Jockey Bruce o' the Fornet.

Here's to oor third, a rantin' tae reel,
A bit of a poem an' a half of a fule,
An' the lassies a' roond,they like him sae weel,
If he'll sing: Win Awa Wi' The Fornet.

We aye hae a baillie, he cam frae Kinnaird,
A wee little mannie, some scairt o' a beard,
For courtin' the lassies, he'd ain be prepared,
Than for sortin' his stots at the Fornet.

We hae a bit dochter, the flooer o' the glen,
She plays the pianna, an' whiles wi' the men,
An' rins in the close, to get keppit again,
Wi' the plooman lads in the Fornet.

At the kirk on a Sunday, she wears a lang veil,
A yaird o' her dress ahind her did trail,
Her hair is tied up like my horse's tail,
For tae charm a' the lads o' the Fornet.

O the hairst being back,an' the weather awfu' bad,
He turns us a' oot tae the pick an' the spad,
He tore off his jacket, the aul' man he gaed mad,
An' he danced an' he raved at the Fornet.

Sung by Davie Stewart in Dundee in 1956, and recorded by Peter Kennedy. Issued on Saydisc cassette CSDL407 Songs of the Travelling People

It is a slightly inconsequential song, but very attractively sung by Davie Stewart. It is typical of many workplace songs in describing the characters of each of the hired hands. Creating such a song, and singing it afterwards, would surely have been great fun in the bothies, at the end of a very hard day's labour.