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07 Jun 04 - 07:40 PM (#1202360) Subject: Lyr Req: Laird of Udny From: GUEST,sylvia herold Hello, Mudcatters, I'm trying to figure out the first verse of "The Laird of Udny" from Archie Fisher's album w/ Garnett Rogers "Off the Map." It goes something like this: I am the laird of Udny's wa's (walls?) And I've come here with richt good cause I've offered mair that thirty (fa's??) Come (?????????) the plain I e-mailed a note to Archie via his folk radio show a few days ago and, so far, no response. So, I'm hoping someone out there may be able to help me out. Thanks! Sylvia |
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07 Jun 04 - 11:07 PM (#1202422) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Laird of Udny From: Malcolm Douglas I don't know what Archie sings, but his sister Cilla had it thus: Noo I'm the laird o' Udney's Wa's And I've come here withoot guid cause And I've had mair than thirty fa's Comin oot owre the hill. (Ailie Munro, The Folk Music Revival in Scotland, Norwood Editions 1985, 170-173). |
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07 Jun 04 - 11:41 PM (#1202436) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Laird of Udny From: GUEST,Billy Malcolm, doesn't Cilla's voice just give you an instant boner? It does for me! (Sorry for that outburst - and now back to our regular programme.) |
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08 Jun 04 - 12:14 AM (#1202451) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Laird of Udny From: Malcolm Douglas She's a damn good singer, but that's all I'll say on the subject. On reflection, I'm sure that I've heard something closer to the words Sylvia mentions; can't place them at the moment, though. |
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08 Jun 04 - 02:06 PM (#1202832) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Laird of Udny From: GUEST,sylvia herold Thanks, Malcolm, for the Cilla version. I still can't make much sense of the last two lines. I've gone to the Scots glossery. They say "fa's" is either "falls" or "claim, or to get." That second definition makes more sense to me in the context of the song but I still can't quite figure it out. Any thoughts? I appreciate it. Sylvia |
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08 Jun 04 - 02:47 PM (#1202862) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Laird of Udny From: Julia This song is actually "This Ae Nicht" and the verse goes I am the Laird o' windy wa's ("windy walls"- all outdoors) An' I cam here wi' richt gude cause For I hae gotten many fa's Upon a naked wame, Oh Let me in this ae nicht this ae, ae, ae, nicht, oh Let me in this ae nicht An' I'll ne'er speir back again , oh It means he has laid lots of women and to "let him in" this one nicht and he'll never ask again It's very old It appears on Ord's Bothey ballads among other collections Robert Burns has a version of it |
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08 Jun 04 - 02:54 PM (#1202869) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Laird of Udny From: Dita It's a night visiting song, the laird is doing a bit of nocturnal courting, " I've had mair than thirty fa's, Coming out ower the plain" I've fallen more than thirty times, on my way here across the plain. The reason he's fallen is the night is dark and the ground uneven, he has not travelled by road but across the plain. The chorus then goes "Let me in this ain night or I'll no be back again" If memory serves the next verse goes on to describe how he's cold and frozen, so he got muddy and soaked to the skin as he fell the thirty or more times and is now begining to freeze. Not a pritty picture perhaps, but if it gets him over the door, (or through the wimdow), I'm sure he'll think of somthing to warm him. cheers, John |
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08 Jun 04 - 03:13 PM (#1202882) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Laird of Udny From: Dita Just hearing Archie singing this in my head, (I'm not at home so can't check till tomorrow), as sung by him it goes "I'm the laird of Undy's Wa's I've come here wi' right good cause I've suffered mair than thirty fa's Coming oot ower the plain" Julia's is an older variant, but not the one Archie recorded. Shows you the folk process at work. Cheers, John |
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08 Jun 04 - 04:14 PM (#1202926) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Laird of Udny From: Malcolm Douglas Cilla learned the song "from Jimmy Hutchinson around 1973, when he lived in Kirkcaldy". It's very close to Jeannie Robertson's set, which however has the more usual "Windy Wa's". Although the meaning of the first verse is innocent enough here, it was not always so. David Herd's MS contains a text, as Let Me in this ae Night, which contains the verse I am the laird of windy-was, I come na here without a cause, And I hae gotten mony fa's Upon a naked wame o! The full text (spelling altered in places, and with a couple of lines apparently introduced from Burns' genteel re-write of it) is quoted in the DT: Let me in this ae nicht. |
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08 Jun 04 - 04:29 PM (#1202941) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Laird of Udny From: Malcolm Douglas Ah; I see that Julia has already quoted a form of that verse. I'll just add that the song is listed under number 135 in the Roud Folk Song Index, which has a number of references to variants from print and from oral currency, under various titles. Mainly Scottish, but there is also a fair sprinkling of examples of the English form, Cold Haily Rainy Night. |
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08 Jun 04 - 07:10 PM (#1203060) Subject: Lyr Add: LAIRD O' UDNY'S WA'S (from Archie Fisher) From: Susanne (skw) This is what Archie sings on 'Will Ye Gang Love' (1976): LAIRD O' UDNY'S WA'S (Trad) O I'm the laird o' Udny's Wa's And I've come here wi' richt guid cause And I've had mair that thirty fa's Comin' oot owre the plain O let me in this ae nicht This ae ae ae nicht O let me in this ae nicht And I'll never speir back again My mother, she does soundly sleep And my bedroom door does chirrup and cheep My bedroom door does chirrup and cheep And I cannae let ye in So gang ye hame this ae nicht This ae ae ae nicht Gang ye hame this ae nicht And never speir back again I'll oil your door gin it maun squeak And it will neither chirrup nor cheep No it will neither chirrup nor cheep And I'll get slippin' in O let me in this ae nicht, This ae ae ae nicht O let me in this ae nicht, And I'll never speir back again When he's got in he was sae gled He's taken his bonnet frae off of his head And he's kissed her on the cheeks sae red And the auld wife heard the din O but well she likit that ae nicht That ae ae ae nicht O weel she likit that ae nicht She let her laddie in When he got in he was sae gled He's knockit the bottom-boards oot o' the bed And he stole the lassie's maidenhead And the auld wife heard the din O but well she likit that ae nicht That ae ae ae nicht O weel she likit that ae nicht That she let her laddie in Jeannie Robertson called itThe Laird o' Windywa's. One comment as yet missing from My Songbook: [1995:] Udny is a small village a dozen miles north of Aberdeen (Peter Hall, notes 'Folk Songs of North-East Scotland') |
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08 Jun 04 - 09:00 PM (#1203125) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Laird of Udny From: Julia Steeleye Span does a great version of "Cold haily windy night" "Let me in the soldier cried, On the cold haily windy night Let me in the soldier cried, For I'll not go back again, oh" |
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17 Apr 16 - 02:03 AM (#3785680) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Laird of Udny From: GUEST,morgan and folk I sing: I'm the laird of Udny Wa's (walls of the Lairds house) And I'ev come here with rightful cause And I'ev tain more than thirty fa's (meaning he's fallen of his horse more than thirty times because he's so drunk) Riding ore the plain o |