Req:Undocumented gems about Life in West Scotland

Subject: Lyr Add: THE 37 BUS and THE MILNGAVIE SONG
From: Ragman
Date: 02 May 06 - 09:16 AM

This is a spin-off from a thread I began on John Eaglesham. I am looking to collate for posterity the gems of songs which have been written over the years by writers in the West of Scotland, but which have not been written down or recorded. There is certainly a talent here in the West of Scotland for taking a wry look at a real life situation, and making a humerous song about it. The message still hits home - whether the subject is serious or not!

The authors I have heard about and want to document more fully include: John Eaglesham, Sean Tierney, Peter Ross, John Murphy...


For starters, here are 2 examples:

The 37 Bus (Ian McCarry & Tom Docherty)

(Tune: Nicky Tams)

Ah wiz sittin on the upper deck o' a 37 bus
Ah seen big Jimmie swillin wine An' stirrin up a fuss
The driver stopped the the bus right sharp an' belted up the stair
"Yie can get the Hell right aff this bus if ye gie us any mair"
"Pal,no offense "big Jimmie said : "if ye knew what I 've been through
Ye widnae say such things tae me or blame a man that's fu'
fur Ah lost ma pile on the dugs taenight , Ah'll huv yes fur tae know
Fur Ah put down all ma overtime pay on a dug that widnae go"

The driver said " Ah dinnae care nor gie a Tinker's curse
Yer swearin an yer bawlin is disturbin a' the bus
Ah've hud aboot enough of you,a lot more than Ah need
If ye dont haud that big tongue o' yours , Ah'll stuff it doon yer heid."
Big Jimmie looked up and he sighed and he finished aff his wine
He says " The way ye've spoke tae me has went right oot o' line
Ah've sorted out 15 like you tae get intae a fight
Get doon on yer knees and beg fur help ,yah dirty little shite."

At this the bus began tae clear as people got off fast
Wi' good auld Glasgow chivalry the wimmen an children last
They gathered round and they shouted out fur they didnae like big Jim
"Come now driver sink the boot, get stuck right intae him."
The driver smiled and waded in kicking and swinging blows
Until he got Jim's big square heid aplanted on his nose
Jim's (His) knee came up, his fist went doon that wiz the battle o'er
So he jumped a couple o' times on his heid as he lay upon the floor

An' staightaway the polis came up tae capture Jim
In threes an' fours an' dozens , well he laid them oot round him
(An when finally they'd sorted out the tiger in his tank)
An' when wi' forty stoatin him he finally sensless sank
Ah counted fourteen polis hats washed away doon a stank
So if ye'er ever sittin on a 37 bus
An see big Willie swillin wine and kickin up a fuss
Don't try tae act the hero an throw big Jimmie aff
Cos the poor old Glasgow polis , They huvnae got the staff.


Example No.2:


The Milngavie Song (Sean Tierney)

(To the tune of "Down By The Bayou")

Goodbye Glasgow, we're gonna go, way down by-o
Out tae the West, tae get the best that money can buy –o
A shangrila, that's no too far fae the toon-o
Just far enough tae keep you scruff fae comin' roon-o

Chorus
In Milngavie, the folks would die if they knew-o
The (number of) times we had tae sign doon on the bru-o
These days are past, I live life fast, I can't deny-o
I've knocked it off, I'm a half-built toff fae Milngavie-o

This ideal home has a concrete gnome in the garden
It's the nearest thing round here tae a hard man
Nae bugs or fleas, dugs daein' pees in your back close-o
Oh, everything in Milngavie is so so-so

Chorus

Well me and the wife, we live a life la dolce vita
But there's times we had tae pockle the gas meter
Played games of whist, discreetly pissed, on the fly-o
Oh ye never know what you miss in Milgavie-o

Chorus

Oh, sex is in, it's great tae swing with the fast set-o
In this x-rated, sex-sated suburban ghetto
To the beetle drives that ruled our lives we've said goodbye-o
You get better vibes swapping wives in Milngavie-o

Chorus

Finish by repeating last line of chorus altered to…

Youse can all F*** off, I'm a half baked toff from Milngavie-o!

Subject: RE: Req:Undocumented gems about Life in West of Sctlnd
From: Ragman
Date: 05 May 06 - 05:27 PM

In Girvan last week, I heard a brilliant East Coast answer to the Glasgow song "Sam The Skull". I can only remember snatches of it (On this occasion, I am blaming the alcohol for my lack of memory)

The chorus goes:

"I'm a dog I'm a dog I'm a Dundee dog...
...
...
And I'm looking for Sam the Skull!"


As you might have guessed, It's called "Dundee Doag" (spelt D-O-A-G Doag!). A great song and a great reply to the original.

Maybe someone knows it?

I didn't get more than a moment to speak to the author, who would have sold me his CD if he had had one in his posession at the time, but we were going in different directions at the time, and didn't meet again.

That seems to be the way of the oral tradition nowadays, we don't seem to meet up and have 'soirees' like my family did when I was young, so finding a song again can be a bit of a hit and a miss.

Subject: RE: Req:Undocumented gems about Life in West Scotl
From: Joe Offer
Date: 05 May 06 - 11:11 PM

refresh

Subject: RE: Req:Undocumented gems about Life in West Scotland
From: GUEST,Robert Jones
Date: 09 May 06 - 06:04 PM

I am looking for information about Sean Tierney. I haven't seen him for years and would appreciate any news.

Subject: RE: Req:Undocumented gems about Life in West Scotland
From: Ragman
Date: 02 Jun 06 - 05:28 PM

Sean Tierney sadly passed away in 2000, I think. I also heard that he was an educated man, maybe a lawyer. I never got to meet him. I believe that his passing be due in part to his lifestyle.

Sadly missed.

Subject: RE: Req:Undocumented gems about Life in West Scotland
From: GUEST,noddy
Date: 03 Jun 06 - 09:10 AM

If you want to hear a good version of "Sam the Skull" listen to Tarneybackle. They hail from Perthshire but are often on the move all around Scotland.

Subject: RE: Req:Undocumented gems about Life in West Scotland
From: Big Tim
Date: 03 Jun 06 - 11:43 AM

In the 60s, I knew Sean well, we started in the Mitchell on the same day, 13 August 1962. Unlike me, he was very hip, very intellectual, very well informed. He profesed to be an anarchist, which I had never heard of. (He even looked like Stuart Christie). He was a kindred spirit with Ronnie Alexander (Clutha folk group). I remember I once had an Elvis album in the staff room, and quite proud I was of it too. Sean picked it up and he and Ronnie just about split their sides laughing at it, but he was never nasty. He came from the Govan area I think, certainly he went to St. Gerard's Secondary, Govan. In '62 he was 19, I was 17.

He left the Library after 2 or 3 years, took a law degree, and became a college lecturer. Alec Gormlie told me just before he (Alec) died that Sean turned up one night at his flat in Partick, hopelessly drunk.

Sorry to end on a sad note but that's the way it was.

Subject: RE: Req:Undocumented gems about Life in West Scotland
From: GUEST,big ed
Date: 25 Nov 06 - 06:27 PM

'Dundee Doag(Dog)' was I reckon, a composition by Steve Ingles from Dundee, Scotland.

Subject: RE: Req:Undocumented gems about Life in West Scotland
From: GUEST,Nellie Clatt
Date: 26 Nov 06 - 08:34 AM

Hamish Imlach recorded ' The 37 Bus ; it;s on the newly released compilation ' Cod Liver OIl And The Orange Juice '

Subject: RE: Req:Undocumented gems about Life in West Scotland
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 07 Dec 06 - 10:04 PM

THE 37 BUS has been posted in the forum here and here.

Subject: Lyr Add: THE WAVERLEY POLKA (Jim Brown)
From: eddie1
Date: 08 Dec 06 - 01:03 AM

The Waverley Polka (by Jim Brown of Cumbernauld)

Chorus:
Sailing doon the Clyde on the Waverley,
A grand old boat is the Waverley,
She'll take ye doon tae Rothesay and be back for tea,
The way that she did when you were wee.

When the buskers played at the after end,
The kind of tunes that were the trend,
You were always sure tae meet wi' a friend
Afore you left the quay. Oh -

When you watched the paddles going round and round
And heard the engines thumping sound
Then your young happy heart would start tae pound
At the thought of reaching the sea

And the shipyard lads would wave "hallo"
When building ships was all the go
With a dozen shipyards in a row
But noo there's barely three

Now a boat marina soon, they say
For the Glasgow docks where the big ships lay
Where the rich folks all can sport and play
Wi their ain wee Waverleys

And everything is "North Sea Oil"
Where lads fae here have gone tae toil
But tae that wee boat we'll aye be loyal
'Cause there's only one Waverley

The tune apparently is "Miss Campbell's Polka"

Eddie

Subject: RE: Req:Undocumented gems about Life in West Scotland
From: Ragman
Date: 09 Jul 09 - 11:56 AM

Refresh... Any more stories or lyrics please?

Subject: RE: Req:Undocumented gems about Life in West Scotland
From: maeve
Date: 09 Jul 09 - 12:28 PM

I hope so; These are great!

maeve