Lyr Add: Songs/Poems of Violet Jacob

Subject: Lyr Add: Songs/Poems of Violet Jacob
From: Joe Offer
Date: 04 Oct 21 - 04:04 PM

Many of the works of Scottish poet Violet Jacob have been set to music. I think we need a thread for them.

Thread #53090   Message #3169179
Posted By: GUEST,Craig Herbertson
12-Jun-11 - 03:52 AM
Thread Name: halloween
Subject: Lyr Add: HALLOWEEN / HALLOWE'EN (Violet Jacob)

Here's the right words. It's from a poem by violet Jacob. It's a beautiful poem too

Hallowe'en

    THE tattie-liftin's nearly through,
    They're ploughin' whaur the barley grew,
       And aifter dark, roond ilka stack,
       Ye'11 see the horsemen stand an' crack
    Lachlan, but I mind o' you !

    1 mind foo often we hae seen
    Ten thoosand stars keek doon atween
       The nakit branches, an' below
       Baith fairm an' bothie hae their show,
    Alowe wi' lichts o' Hallowe'en.

    There's bairns wi' guizards* at their tail          [Mummers who go door-to-door]
    Clourin' the doors wi' runts o' kail*,          [celery stalks]
       And fine ye' 11 hear the skreichs an' skirls
       O' lassies wi' their droukit curls
    Bobbin' for aipples i' the pail.

    The bothie fire is loupin' het,
    A new heid horseman's kist is set
       Richts o' the lum; whaur by the blaze
       The auld ane stude that kept yer claes--
    I canna thole to see it yet!

    But gin the auld fowks' tales are richt
    An ghaists come hame on Hallow nicht,
       O freend o' freends! what wad I gie
       To feel ye rax yer hand to me
    Atween the dark an' caun'le licht?

    Awa in France, across the wave,
    The wee lichts burn on ilka grave,
       An' you an' me their lowe hae seen--
       Ye'11 mebbe hae yer Hallowe'en
    Yont, whaur ye're lyin' wi' the lave.

    There's drink an' damn', sang an' dance
    And ploys and kisses get their chance,
       But Lachlan, man, the place I see
       Is whaur the auld kist used to be
    And the lichts o' Hallowe'en in France!

       Violet Jacob

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8UbwLeqGHs

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Songs/Poems of Violet Jacob
From: Joe Offer
Date: 04 Oct 21 - 04:24 PM

Thread #4763   Message #3231440
Posted By: Jim Dixon
29-Sep-11 - 11:26 PM
Thread Name: ADD:Wild Geese(Violet Jacob/Jim Reid)-Norland Wind
Subject: Lyr Add: WILD GEESE (Violet Jacob)

Here's how the poem appears in Modern Scottish Women Poets by Dorothy McMillan and Michel Byrne (Edinburgh: Canongate Books Ltd, 2005), page 4:

[I have taken care to show the title, spelling, punctuation, capitalization and italicization exactly as it appears in that book. I have boldfaced the words (disregarding mere spelling or dialect differences) that are different from the version posted by Håvard above.]


WILD GEESE
Violet Jacob (1863-1946)

'Oh, tell me fit was on yer road, ye roarin' norlan' wind
As ye cam' blawin' frae the land, that's niver frae my mind?
My feet they trayvel England, but I'm deein' for the north—'
'My man, I heard the siller tides rin up the Firth o' Forth.'

'Aye, Wind, I ken them well eneuch, and fine they fa' and rise,
And fain I'd feel the creepin' mist on yonder shore that lies,
But tell me, ere ye passed them by, what saw ye on the way?'
'My man, I rocked the rovin' gulls that sail abune the Tay.'

'But saw ye naethin', leein' Wind, afore ye cam to Fife?
There's muckle lyin' yont the Tay that's mair to me nor life.'
'My man, I swept the Angus braes ye haena trod for years—'
'O Wind, forgie a hameless loon that canna see for tears!—'

'And far abune the Angus straths I saw the wild geese flee,
A lang, lang skein o' beatin' wings, wi' their heids towards the sea,
And aye their cryin' voices trailed, ahint them on the air—'
'O Wind, hae maircy, haud yer whisht, for I daurna listen mair!'

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Songs/Poems of Violet Jacob
From: Felipa
Date: 04 Oct 21 - 04:53 PM

Wild Geese has also been recorded under the title Norlan' Wind
Jim Reid set both Halloween and Wild Geese aka Norlan' Wind to music

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Songs/Poems of Violet Jacob
From: Acorn4
Date: 05 Oct 21 - 07:01 AM

A rather good version:-

"Norland Wind"

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Songs/Poems of Violet Jacob
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 07 Oct 21 - 12:40 PM

Baltic Street appears in a thread of its own here:
/mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=169843
Tune by Carole Prior
And here’s a clip of the Priors, Alan and Carole, singing it at Keith Festival:
Baltic Street - The Priors

---

Thread #169843   Message #4106527
Posted By: Reinhard
18-May-21 - 01:10 PM
Thread Name: Lyr Add: Baltic Street (Violet Jacob)
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Baltic Street (Violet Jacob)

Here's the link, Jack: https://mainlynorfolk.info/folk/songs/balticstreet.html

BALTIC STREET (Violet Jacob)

My dainty lass, lay you the blame
    Upon the richtfu’ heid;
‘Twas daft ill-luck that bigg’d yer hame
    The wrang side o’ the Tweed.
Ye hae yer tocher a’ complete,
    Ye’re bonny as the rose,
But I was born in Baltic Street,
    In Baltic Street, Montrose!

Lang syne on mony a waefu’ nicht,
    Hie owre the sea’s distress,
I’ve seen the great airms o’ the licht
    Swing oot frae Scurdyness;
An’ prood, in sunny simmer blinks,
    When land-winds rase an’ fell,
I’d flee my draigon on the links
    Wi’ callants like mysel’.

Oh, Baltic Street is cauld an’ bare
    An’ mebbe no sae grand,
But ye’ll feel the smell i’ the caller air
    O’ kippers on the land.
‘Twixt kirk an’ street the deid fowk bide,
    Their feet towards the sea,
Ill nee'bours for a new-made bride,
    Gin ye come hame wi’ me.

The steeple shades the kirkyaird grass,
    The seamen’s hidden banes,
A dour-like kirk to an English lass
    Wha kens but English lanes;
And when the haar, the winter through,
    Creeps blind on close and wa’
My hame micht get a curse frae you,
    Mysel’ get, mebbe, twa.

I’ll up an’ aff the morn’s morn
    To seek some reid-haired queyn,
Bauld-he’rted, strang-nieved, bred an’ born
    In this auld toon o’ mine.
And oh! for mair I winna greet,
    Gin we hae meal an’ brose,
And a but an’ ben in Baltic Street,
    In Baltic Street, Montrose!

Scurdyness: Scurdie Ness Lighthouse, on the South side of the River South Esk estuary, Montrose

‘Twixt kirk an’ street the deid fowk bide: Kirky Steps cemetery lies between Old & St Andrews Church and Baltic Street; according to Google Maps, that is - I've never been there.