Tattie Jock is a song dating from the 1820s and tells of the transportation to Botany Bay of several men from the farm of Craigie in Fife, Scotland. The farmer had caught the farmworkers - horse ploughmen - stealing potatoes. He called in the police and this resulted in a fight between the police and the men. The men were taken to court and transported for 14 years to the hardships of slavery in Australia.
  
Recorded by Peter Shepheard from the singing of Archie Webster, Strathkinness. Recorded 17 June 1968 (68.2.34) & 14 Sep 1971 at Peat Inn (71.3). Transcribed and adapted Peter Shepheard. © Springthyme Music 1968. Published in the Scottish Folksinger. Collins (1973). Also recorded from Eck Harley of Cupar 16 May 1968 (68.2.29). 

The Sound Cloud track here starts with a recording of Pete Shepheard leading the song with chorus made at the FifeSing Traditional Singing Festival in May 2011. This is followed by the archive recordings of Eck Harley and Archie Webster edited together.

1: Ye aa hae heard o Tattie Jock,
Likewise o Mutton Peggie,
They had a fairm in the North o Fife,
An the name o it wis Craigie.

Chorus:
	Singin ah riddle aye, roo rum di do,
	Ah riddle aye, roo rum day.

2: There were ten pair upon that place,
Likewise ten able men;
It’s five they gaed tae kinnle the fire,
An the ither five oot tae scran.

3: Three month we saired wi Tattie Jock
An weel did we agree,
Till we fund oot that the tattie shed,
Could be opened wi the bothy key.

4: We aa gaed in tae the tattie shed,
Oor bags were hardly full,
When Tattie Jock in ahint the door,
Cries, “Aye, ma lads, stand still!”

5: The first he got wis Jimmy Marr,
The next wis Willie Doo;
There wis Jimmy Grey an Wull Moncur,
An Jimmy Pethrie flew.

6: Next day some o us were drivin dung,
An some were at the mill;
But better we’d been at the ploo,
Upon Pitlootie Hill.

7: They sent for ten big policemen,
But nine there only cam;
It dinged them for tae tak’s that nicht,
Us bein ten able men.

8: Johnny Grey wis the hemaist lad,
The best lad o us aa;
He jined a man o war ship at Leith,
So’s he need na stand the law.

9: When we were gettin oor sentences,
We aa stood roond and roond;
But when we heard o the fourteen years,
Oor tears cam rollin doon.

10: When Tattie Jock he heard o this,
He cried an grat fu sore;
A thousand guineas he wad pay,
If that wad clear oor score.

11: A bag o gold he did produce,
Tae pay it there an then;
But the lawyer only told him, 
Money wouldna clear his men.

12: As we were bein mairched up through Perth,
We heard the news boys say,
“It’s hard tae see sic able men,
Rade aff tae Botany Bay.”

13: When we arrive in Botany Bay,
Some letters we will send,
Tae tell oor friends the hardships,
We endure in a foreign land.
	Singin ah riddle aye, roo rum di do,
	Ah riddle aye, roo rum day.

Archie Webster: This is a story which happened quite a number of years ago when the Clydesdales used to draw the ploughs - the swing plough, steered by the skill o the ploomen o Fife. On Craigie fairm there were ten pair of these animals, the ploughman’s pride. These ten men worked these horses with skill but they were subject tae the failings of all flesh and, as wages wasnae very big, they used tae help their selves a bit fae the fairm produce. One day they were caught. Theft was a terrible crime at that time – a man could be hanged for stealing a sheep. Well, the ploomen o Craigie were caught stealing tatties be the fairmer, a man who boasted the nickname Tattie Jock. This is the ballad of Craigie.

Research at the Scottish Records Office reveals that the farms of Craigie and Pusk beside Leuchars were farmed by two brothers in the 1820s. They grew and dealt in potatoes - hence the byname of Tattie Jock. The potatoes were carted to Tayport for distribution to Edinburgh and Dundee by sea. They also rented a shed at St Andrews harbour.

Links:
Springthyme Records: www.springthyme.co.uk
FifeSing Traditional Singing Festival: www.springthyme.co.uk/fifesing/

Tattie Jock

PIRN-TAED JOCKIE

Sung by Jock Duncan of Pitlochry on Autumn Harvest ah007: Old Songs & Bothy Ballads 5: Grand to Be a Working Man. Recorded at the Fife Traditional Singing Festival May 2008.

A tongue-twister in the broad Scots from the pen of George Bruce Thomson, one time trainee chemist in New Deer, Aberdeenshire and a prolific composer of songs. George clearly loved to make full use of the local broad Scots vocabulary — the Doric. According to Jock's mother, he sometimes tested out his songs on the customers for approval. Jock is sure most of his songs were lost or given away. Gavin Greig included several of George Thomson's songs in his weekly Buchan Observer articles around 1910. This songs is number 1220 in the Greig-Duncan Folk Song Collection published by Mercat Press (Volume 6, 1995). The tune is given by Thomson as The Girl I Left Behind Me for the verse and The White Cockade for the chorus.

1: Oh fin I wis a little wee pirn-taed loonie, [pigeon-toed lad
I was aye caad silly little Jockie, [called
Ae nicht I wis sittin on my grannie's window sill
Eatin sweeties oot a broon paper pyockie; [poke/bag
By cam a lassie an she offered me a kiss,
A thing I wid never think o scornin,
But she bolted wi ma sweeties, dang my heid through the windae,
An ma grannie tellt me that neist mornin: [next
Oh never tie a kettle tull a big dog's tail,
Nor tak a drink o water oot a bucket or a pail,
For it's plain tae unnerstan as a bawbee for a bap, [halfpenny; bread roll
That the reidest cheekit aipples aye are gotten at the tap;
A laddie aince pit snuff in his aul grannie's tea,
But he drunk it up himsel 'fore he noticed, so they say,
But I'll wager tuppence happeny, though it's aa I caa ma ain, [call, own
The nickum never tigget wi her sneeshin mill again. [rogue; tampered; snuff mill

2: Oh it's a sair thing love fen it hits ye on the weskit, [waistcoat
Fen ye think ye're getting on sae fine man,
But och hon-a-rie, tae fin oot that ye've been coortin, [alas
Anidder man's lassie aa the time man;
Love is like a jujube covered ower wi sugar, 
Anidder lad changes it tae sooricks aa thegidder, [sorrel, ie sourness
For it's on ae side like the hantle o a jug, [handle of
An it's caul kail early in the mornin. [cold cabbage
If ye ever get a smack fae Cupid's little arra,
It's like hurlin in a prambulator doon the hill o Barra,
An if she winnae hae ye, it's like lyin on the rack,
Wi a thoosan maggie-mony-feets a-crawlin doon yer back; [centipedes
It's aye the best sheep that gets smoored among the snaw, [smothered
Fin ye're fishing it's the best troot that aye wins awa,
An if ye see a lassie that ye think ye'd like tae pet,
That's jist the very een ye may be sure ye winnae get.

3: Oh I aince went a ball in the aul toon o Ribble,
An I never saw sae mony bonnie dawties, [darlings
Hooch! up tae yer een among marmalade an treacle,
It was happy as a craw among the tatties;
Big lassies, sma lassies, short lassies, tall lassies,
Aa kin o lassies fit tae blin ye,
Bit the flooer o them aa wis little Polly Proctor,
The lassie I was forced tae leave behind me.
For I aince went tae my auntie's wi a bag o yallow haddocks,
The idder loonies laiddert me an full'd the bag wi puddocks, [beat; frogs
It was sair, sair tae thole, I wad say withoot a doot, [endure; doubt
But this time I thocht that I wid greet heech oot; [cry right out
For Polly said she'd mairry me an nae anidder body,
An' fin I kissed Polly well she didna gie a cheep, [sound
Noo she's ran awa wi a lantern-chaftit sodger, [long-jawed
Wi a face that wis as yalla as a bilt Swaddish neep. [yellow; boiled; turnip

4: Oh ye never saw a rickle like my aul horse Dobbin, [bag of bones
Ye could hing up yer jecket on his hurdies, [haunches
He wis broke in the win an fin he began tae rin, [breathless
He made a racket like a dizzen hurdy-gurdies; 
I took him tae the market and I swappit fair ower, [swapped
Wi a Balaclava chairger fae the sooth man,
But I didnae wait the blockan-ale though I wis unco dry, [the drink to seal the deal
For fear they mebbe finin oot the truth man.
For here I thocht I'd really deen a smairt trick noo, [done
But sic a coupin ower the tailie I never did expeck, [overturning, inheritance
Fae a fraisy aul mannie wi a roly-poly facie, [talkative
Like a ginger-breid rabbitie wi a clootie roon its neck; 
I took it tae the market, an I swappit, dae ye see,
My ain horse Dobbin that was blin upon ae ee, [blind in one eye
Oh I cam hame fae the market jist as drouthy as a saith, [coalfish
Wi a fiddle-heedit jigger that was blin upon them baith. [oddity, blind in both eyes

This a track on the album Old Songs & Bothy Ballads 5: <a href="http://www.springthyme.co.uk/ah07/" target="_self">Grand to Be a Working Man</a>.

Jock Duncan: Pirn-Taed Jockie

FifeSing

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