Req:Tink he kicked the farmer's wife/buy his broom

Subject: The tink he kicked the farmers wife
From: Snab
Date: 03 Dec 04 - 12:56 PM

My 92 year old father has just remembered a couple of lines from my grandmothers singing. He says he hasn't heard them for ninety years!
His memory is excellent for words but, as he says, he sings like a raven! My brother has also started a thread with Suvla Bay, another one regularly recited by Dad. This one only has "The tink he kicked the farmers wife as she put out the claes" and "The tink he kicked the farmers wife for she widna buy his broom."
Any further words, song title or tune would be much appreciated as I have put together a show with my memories of Glen Artney in the 1940s and the songs that were sung then and any more sung by my Grandmother would be like gold dust

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The tink he kicked the farmer's wife
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 08 Dec 04 - 09:46 AM

refresh

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The tink he kicked the farmer's wife
From: Joe Offer
Date: 25 Jun 25 - 03:01 PM

Time for another refresh...

Subject: RE: Req:Tink he kicked the farmer's wife/buy his broom
From: Nick Dow
Date: 25 Jun 25 - 06:10 PM

The Tinker and the Farmer's wife seems to be a scots version of the 'Farmer's cursed wife' or the Devil and the ploughman according to an internet search. I am a bit sceptical about this interpretation however I did collect a couple of versions of the Jolly Tinker from the Gypsy Folk. One of them had a 'Touch her if you dare' chorus. There is also the possibility it could be related to 'The Barley Straw'
The 'Buy his broom' reference is interesting in as much as it has a 18th century Cant meaning. To buy a broom is a Cant term to rob somebody and run away. To this day we talk about a brush with the law'
I have the distinct feeing that I am adding one and one and making twenty five unfortunately. This is the best I can come up with, and it's not very much I'm afraid.
Is your father's tune in common time or triple time it might help to track it down?

Subject: RE: Req:Tink he kicked the farmer's wife/buy his broom
From: Joe Offer
Date: 25 Jun 25 - 09:32 PM

Snab posted only this one time, way back in 2004. My first thought was that this was a version of 'Farmer's cursed wife,' but what about the brooms? Interesting, but not enough to build on.

Subject: RE: Req:Tink he kicked the farmer's wife/buy his broom
From: Nick Dow
Date: 26 Jun 25 - 02:24 AM

I never looked at the OP date! The broom reference is confusing in as much as Buy-a-brooms (Prostitutes-Doxies rated lower in the canting crew than streetwalkers) were female and so were the 'Broomdashers' or those who trade in besoms.
This would imply that the words are later than the mid nineteenth century when the cant meaning had decayed. It could be a locally composed song or poem set to music.