Lyr Add: Butter on the Bow (Ally Winwick)

Subject: Lyr Add: Butter on the Bow (Ally Winwick)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 11 Jul 15 - 07:58 PM

Somebody, probably Scott Gardiner, sang us this song on our recent trip to Orkney and Skye. It's a great song.

BUTTER ON THE BOW
(Ally Winwick)

When I first tried a teun on me Faither's violin
    Wi' a dee-a-doo-a-dirna-diddle-eye-dum-doh!
A' me folk were away on the summer Sabbath day
That I scrapit on his fiddle wi' the Owld Man's bow!

Gaed a twiddle tae the string an' pat the fiddle tae me chin,
Wi' a mind tae keep the Sabbath, so I thowt I'd try a hymn.
But I got an affl skreek - no' a doo-a-dirna-diddle!
When I scrapit on his fiddle wi' the Owld Man's bow!

Oh! The wee ginger cat dookit underneath the mat
    Wi' a dee-a-doo-a-dirna-diddle-eye-dum-doh!
An' the dug raised his jowl an' gaed such a faerfil howl
That he droonded all the skirlan o' the Owld Man's bow!

Then I tried tae tak' me tempo fae the wag-upon-the-waa,
But me Sankey soonded affly like the Turkey in the Straa!
So I tried anither key, but the skreek wis warse than iver
When I scrapit on his fiddle wi' the Owld Man's bow!

Noo I ken ower weel hoo tae cure a squeakan wheel
    Wi' a dee-a-doo-a-dirna-diddle-eye-dum-doh!
An' A'm thinkan, says I, that there's, something gettan dry
So I doot wae'll need tae lubricate the Owld Man's bow!

Boy! I hunted in the glory-hole that's in below the stair;
In the box ahint the tractor, but there wisna any there!
Feth! I hunted a' the hoose, but the oil had geen a-missing -
So I rubbed a bit o' butter on the Owld Man's bow!

Gaed a twirl tae the string: pat the fiddle tae me chin
    Wi' a dee-a-doo-a-dirna-diddle-eye-dum-doh!
But alas for me teun - ye wad heard a droppan pin -
For there wisna even a whisper fae the Owld Man's bow!

Boy! I workit at the fiddle like a joiner wi' a saa
Till the clarts o' Orkney butter ferly stotted aff the waa!
Bit I couldna' get a dee, or a doo-a-dirna-diddle
When I scrapit on his fiddle wi' the Owld Man's bow!

Then the kirk folk cam' in and I smerted for me sin
    Wi' a dee-a-doo-a-dirna-diddle-eye-dum-doh!
For he played such a tune that I couldna sit me doon
But wis minded o' the butter on the Owld Man's bow!

So A'm finished wi' the fiddle, and there's no' the slightest doot,
If I ever learn an instrument hid's gaan tae be the flute!
For when unkan folk come by, and they mak the introductions
A'm the boy that pat the bUtter on the Owld Man's bow!

From Music from the Orkney Islands, Folkways record FW 8470
http://media.smithsonianfolkways.org/liner_notes/folkways/FW08470.pdf

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ecdmCiCBqQ