Poor Wee Jockey Clarke

Subject: Poor Wee Jockey Clarke
From: N Chevalier
Date: 21 Jul 98 - 03:14 PM

Does anyone have the lyrics for the trad. Scots song "Poor Wee Jockey Clarke," recorded by Richard Thompson on his "Watching the Dark" compilation. I can make out most of it by listening to the CD, but my Scots isn't good enough to catch all the references. A printed text would help. Thanks.

Subject: RE: Poor Wee Jockey Clarke
From: GUEST,JeffK
Date: 22 Nov 19 - 12:20 PM

18 years later - the best I can find is an old broadside entitled, "My Father's Old Coat", which mentions "Puir Wee Johnny Clark" as opposed to "Jockey Clarke". It's at https://digital.nls.uk/broadsides/view/?id=14942&transcript=1.

Subject: RE: Poor Wee Jockey Clarke
From: GUEST,N Chevalier
Date: 11 Jun 26 - 01:01 PM

Seven more years later (including one pandemic!)--Many thanks for this. My Scots has improved in the last quarter-century, so over the years I've managed to learn all the words. But I'm also grateful to see this version, which changes some lines (not always for the better in terms of scansion, I'd say!) and adds a verse not in Thompson's version--at the same time, Thompson sings a rounding-out verse that's not included in the broadside. Fascinating wee bit o' Scottish culture frae the last century.

Subject: RE: Poor Wee Jockey Clarke
From: GUEST,RA
Date: 11 Jun 26 - 01:35 PM

You can hear the late Lucy Stewart singing it here in a recording from the School of Scottish Studies.

Her niece, the late Elizabeth Stewart, also sang it and you can hear that on here double CD 'Binnorrie'. When I have a moment, and if you are interested, I'll copy out the sleeve notes pertaining to that song.

Subject: RE: Poor Wee Jockey Clarke
From: Reinhard
Date: 12 Jun 26 - 03:07 AM

POOR WEE JOCKEY CLARKE
sung by Richard Thompson

O poor wee Jockey Clarke
He sells the News and Star
He whistles and he sings
As he paddles through the glaur
Of all newspaper sellers
He’s the best of all the lot
If he’d only make?a?jacket
Out?his father’s old?coat

Well, Jockey’s father?took a dram
As you may understand
He was a tyrant to his wife
And a plague unto the land
And oft times by the neighbours
He was called a drunken sot
For his little bitter bairnies
Are neglected and forgot

Yes, says Jockey to his mother
Lord, woman, I do think shame
You’d think I’d ne’er a father
Nor a mother or a hame
My clothes they are so ragged
Not a hale stitch have I got
Would you try and make a jacket
Of my father’s old coat?

O the jacket it was made
And it was uncommon braw
It was a grand protection
Against the rain and snow
The pouches in particular
O Jockey’s mind did please
They would hold a stane of tatties
With the greatest of ease

O, says Jockey to his mother
Lord, woman, I do think shame
You’d think I’d both a father
And a mother and a hame
My clothes they are so neatly
Not a ragged stitch I’ve got
Since you’ve made me up the jacket
Of my father’s old coat

PEER WEE JOCKIE CLARK
sung by Elizaberh Stewart

O peer wee Jockie Clark
He sells the Evening Star
He whistles an he sings
As he traivels near an far
And be aa the paper sellers
He’s the best een o the lot
If they’d only mak a jaicket
Oot his faither’s aul coat.

Noo Jockie’s faither took a dram
As ye may understand
He wis a tyrant tae his wife and bairns
And a pageant tae the land
An off times by his neighbours
He wis caaed a drunken lot
For his little bits of bairnies
Were neglected and forgot.

O says Jockie tae his mither
O Lord woman I dee think shame
Ye’d think I hidna a faither
A mither and a hame
My claes they are sae ragged
Nae a hale stitch hae I got
Wid ye try and mak a jaicket
Oot my faither’s aul coat.

Noo Jockie’s mither lookit doon
On her bairnie wi a smile
She said, O my little cannie
It’s hardly worth my while
Bit gae awa and sell yeer papers
And be sure an sell the lot
An I’ll try and mak a jaicket
Oot yer faither’s aul coat.

Noo the jaicket it wis made
And a jaicket ne’er sae braw
It wis a grand protection
Against the wind and snaa
And the pooches in particular
It’s Jockie’s mind did please
They wid haud a steen o tatties
Wi the greatest o ease.

O says Jockie tae his mither
O Lord woman I dinna think shame
For ye’d think I hid a faither
A mither and a hame
My claes they are sae tidy
Nae a ragged stitch I’ve got
Since you made me this jaicket
Oot my faither’s aul coat.

Booklet notes:
Peer Wee Jockie Clark, also known as Fairther’s Old Coat, probably originated in Glasgow, judging from the newspapers mentioned. It comes from a genre of temperance songs which includes Johnnie Ma Man, also well-known and sung among the Stewarts and in Traveller circles in general, although the alcoholic-reformed verses commonly sung at the end are a Victorian interpolation. Jockie, or Johnnie Clark is found in the north-eastern areas of both England and Scotland, regions which have a great deal in common: fishing traditions, dialect features, and also a nineteenth-century history of frequent and widespread evangelical revivals, often allied with temperance movements. Lucy Stewart’s version appears in Kennedy [Folksongs of Britain and Ireland], p. 522.