Subject: Lyr Add: JOHNNY MOAT (Davy Steele)
From:
Jim Dixon
Date: 27 Sep 03 - 01:08 PM
If George had looked just a little further down the page where he found the sound file, he would have seen this:
Copied from http://www.prestoungrange.org/arts-festival/html/news/show_news.asp?newsid=26 and edited a bit.
JOHNNY MOAT
(Davy Steele)
On the girdle rocks ahint Auldhammer House
Stands a stane nearly nine foot high,
Named efter a man that lived here long ago.
Some say he wis built the same way.
Why it's standing's a mystery that's never been solved,
Though it's been studied by men of great note.
But there's none can be sure how it comes to be there,
That great rock they call Johnny Moat.
CHORUS: "Keep standing, keep standing," the toon folk a' cried.
"Keep standing along the Forth shore.
For while you are standing, the toon'll no die.
We'll praise Johnny Moat evermore."
If you start at the east where the Black Rocks are named,
Travel west 'til you come tae the Cuthill.
You'll pass by the Humlicks, the Hattles, the Hays,
The Doos Ringans Hole and the Girdle.
Then it's on tae the Canty, the Mathies, the Ox,
All named efter some weel kent folk.
But there's none o' these crags o' blue whinston are made
Like the great rock they call Johhny Moat. CHORUS
Some said it wis placed by the hand o' God.
Some said 'twas the ice age that brought it.
From wherever it came, it was seen as a sign
Of good fortune by those that lived round it.
So long as it's standing, the toon'll survive.
The people would often speak o't.
A, but if it should fa', then the pans win an a'.
So they a' said aboot Johnny Moat. CHORUS
So Johnny stood ower the toon through the years,
Watching it prosper and growing.
It had oyster beds, the best in the land,
Weel kent for its pottery and brewing.
It had salt works of worldwide fame,
The grange and links pits for its mining.
All these things and more grew along the Forth shore
While Johnny Moat was still standing. CHORUS
Then on one dark night, the great rock fell,
And nobody knew till the morning.
And some folk retold those stories of old,
While others just laughed at their warning.
But the oyster beds dried and the salt mines shut doon.
The pottery and breweries soon followed.
Then both the mines closed, that cruelest of blows,
When Johnny no more cast his shadow. CHORUS
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