HOGMANAY

A set of Springthyme tracks from SoundCloud.

Springthyme Selection

Sitting in the Stern of a Boat (Mi 'm shuidh' an Deireadh Bata)
From the album Ossian - Ossian on Springthyme (SPRCD 1004).

This beautiful slow air was composed in the 18th century by the Rev. William McLeod and represents his thoughts as he sailed away from his native Bracadale in the Isle of Skye to take up a parish in Argyll. Taken from Captain Simon Fraser’s Knockie Collection of 1816. 

Ossian - named after the legendary 3rd century Celtic Bard and folk hero, was formed in 1976, and this was their first album of Scottish/Celtic music - released in 1997 on CD. The band went on to record a series of albums on their own 'Iona' label.

This song is from the Springthyme CD Ossian: <a href="http://www.springthyme.co.uk/1004/" target="_parent">OSSIAN</a>.

Ossian: Sitting in the Stern of a Boat

Auchmithie is a small fishing village close to the town of Arbroath on the Scottish east coast - famous as the original place where haddock were smoked to make the Arbroath smokies. The song text is given below.

Bothy songs and Scottish country music have been a part of life at the Foundry Bar in Arbroath ever since the time when the only customers were the foundry workers from over the road (the foundry has long since gone), the fisher fowk from the town, and the fairm chiels in from the Angus countryside for the weekly fairs and markets.

In 1975 some of the Foundry Bar musicians got together, entered and won the Ceilidh Band competition at the Kinross festival – and so was born ‘The Foundry Bar Band’. This, their first album, was issued in 1981 and it has been a top selling album ever since - first as an LP, then on cassette and now remastered in CD format.

Few bands, professional or otherwise, can so well convey the essential lilt of Scottish music with such enjoyment and enthusiasm. The fame of ‘the foondry’ as a musical gathering place has spread far and wide, and on a couple of nights a week the back room is filled to capacity with musicians and enthusiasts from near and far.

• AUCHMITHIE •

There’s a wee fishing village on the shores of the North Sea,
Once famous for smoked haddock and they ca’d it Auchmithie;
I don’t know where this name came from or what it really means,
But once ye know Auchmithie ye’ll see it in your dreams.

It was there that I wis born many, many years ago,
In a wee old stone cottage overlooking the round-o,
Wi the cliffs sae high and rugged, washed by wild seas from below,
Such a place ye will ne’er see, no matter where ye go.

For I’ve been around Loch Lomond and Tobermoray Bay, 
Inverary and Loch Fyne and all along the way; 
But the bonniest spot that I’ve seen and aye will be tae me, 
Is the rocks and cliffs and green braes o ma dear home Auchmithie.

© 1981 J. Reid & N. Buick pub Springthyme Music.

This track is from the Springthyme CD <a href="http://www.springthyme.co.uk/1007/" target="_parent">The Foundry Bar Band</a>.

Foundry Bar Band: Auchmithie

Iain McLachlan: An Island Heritage

Iain McLachlan's music comes as fresh as the sea breezes wafting over the Uist machair - Highland and Gaelic as his island heritage. I recall two wonderful music sessions with Iain at a ceilidh and dance in Daliburgh in South Uist back in 1976 and again at one of the famous Kinross Festivals where he played about a dozen pipe marches off the cuff with the unbroken link up that comes of playing at a thousand dances.

Iain, from Benbecula, is best known as an accordionist, but on this recording he also plays fiddle and melodeon, and is joined by Calum Iain MacCorquodale of Bayhead, North Uist on accordion and fiddle and by Calum Campbell of Balivanich on goose and jaws harp. His Highland Harry using the trill grace note which was a favourite ornament with the old Highland fiddlers, and the two pipe reels of Drummond and The Sheepwife on accordion with Calum on the goose, are truly inspiring
[from sleeve notes by Aonghas Grant, Lochaber].

Here he plays the well known pipe tune The Conundrum - Iain on button accordion (Hohner Shand Morino) and Calum Campbell on the goose (the Highland bagpipe without drones).

This is a track from the album Iain McLachlan: <a href="http://www.springthyme.co.uk/1022/" target="_self">An Island Heritage</a>.

Iain McLachlan: The Conundrum

Jim Reid - a man who many will consider as one of Scotland's finest folksingers - passed away on Monday 6th July 2009 after a long illness. His contribution to Scotland's singing tradition has been immense and, in 2005, he was voted Scots Singer of the Year in the Scots Trad Music Awards. His love of the poetry of Tayside and Angus and, in particular, his inspired setting to music of poems by Violet Jacob and Helen Cruickshank have given us a lasting legacy. His setting of Violet Jacob's Wild Geese (or Norland Wind) has become a classic of the folk song repertoire. 

It was at Jim's suggestion that some of the musicians from the regular sessions at Arbroath's Foundry Bar got together, entered and won the 1971 Ceilidh Band competition at the Kinross Festival - and so was born the hugely influential and highly enjoyable Foundry Bar Band who played at festivals, ceilidhs and dances for nearly another 30 years. Jim had already issued a couple of albums with the Foundry Bar Band (http://www.springthyme.co.uk/1007) but it was his solo 'Wild Geese' album (http://www.springthyme.co.uk/1015), first issued in 1984, that established him as one of Scotland's finest singers.

"Far abune the Angus straths I saw the wild geese flee;
A lang, lang skein o beatin wings wi their heids toward the sea."

Set to music by Jim, this was originally written as a poem by Violet Jacob in 1915. The song is also known under the alternative title Norland Wind.

1: "Oh tell me fit was on yer road, ye roarin Norland wind?
As ye come blawin frae the land that's never frae ma mind.
Ma feet they traivel England but I'm deein for the North."
"Ma man, I saw the siller tides rin up the Firth o Forth."
 
2: "Aye wind, I ken them weel eneuch an fine they fa and rise,
And fain I'd feel the creepin mist on yonder shore that lies.
But tell me as ye pass them by, fit saw ye on the way?"
"Ma man, I rocked the rovin gulls that sail abin the Tay."
 
3: "Bit saw ye naethin leein wind afore ye come tae Fife?
For there's muckle lyin 'yont the Tay that's mair tae me nor life."
"Ma man, I swept the Angus braes that ye hivna trod for years."
"Oh wind, forgie a hameless loon that canna see for tears."
 
4: "And far abin the Angus straths I saw the wild geese flee,
A lang, lang skein o beatin wings wi their heids toward the sea,
And aye their cryin voices trailed ahint them on the air."
"Oh wind, hae mercy, haud your wheesht for I daurna listen mair."

Scots Words:
The poem is written in the Angus dialect of Scots. fit - what, frae - from, deein - dying, traivel - travel, eneuch - enough, muckle - much, mair - more. "Haud yer wheesht" in the last line is an expression you would use to a friend or child, telling them to be quiet/stop talking.

Translation: Scots words anglicised - but please sing the Scots! 

1: "Oh tell me what was on your road, you roaring Norland wind?
As you come blowing from the land that's never from my mind.
My feet they travel England but I'm dying for the North."
"My man, I saw the silver tides run up the Firth o Forth."
 
2: "Oh wind, I ken them well enough and fine they fall and rise,
And fain I'd feel the creeping mist on yonder shore that lies.
But tell me as ye pass them by, what saw ye on the way?"
"My man, I rocked the roving gulls that sail above the Tay."
 
3: "But saw ye nothing, lying wind, before ye came to Fife?
For there's much lying beyond the Tay that's more to me than life."
"My man, I swept the Angus braes that you havn't trod for years."
"Oh wind, forgive a homeless lad that cannot see for tears."
 
4: "And far above the Angus straths I saw the wild geese flee,
A long, long skein of beating wings with their heads toward the sea,
And aye their crying voices trailed behind them on the air."
"Oh wind, have mercy, hold your tongue for I dare not listen more."

The Angus straths are farmland between the Grampian mountains of highland Perthshire and the Firth of Tay. Fife lies between the Tay to the north and the Firth of Forth to the south.

Jim Reid - I Saw The Wild Geese Flee

The Wild Geese / Norland Wind

Jim Reid: The Wild Geese/ Norland Wind

Ceilidh Scotland

(The Jigs) Haste To The Wedding/Jim McAllster's Jig/Stan Chapman/The Sailor's Wife

Hogmanay Scotland

(Wee Dram Medley) Wild Rover, Ye Cannae Shove Yer Grannie Aff A Bus, Show Me The Way To Go Home

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		LOCHABER GATHERING/ TAM BAIN'S LUM
		This track: Lochaber Gathering/ Tam Bain's Lum is the opening track on the album and is played by the Beggar's Mantle Ceilidh Band. The first tune, Lochaber Gathering, is a four part march by George Stewart MacLennan. It is unclear when the Lochaber Gathering piping competition originated, but its beginnings go back to the dawn of competion among pipers. It is known however, that as far back as 1816, the event was recorded in the annals of the Highland Society of London. The composer GS MacLennan (or McLennan) was born in Edinburgh in 1883 to a leading and long-standing piping family and died in his prime at age 46 in 1929 with his only book of music just off the press. Those who heard him say his fingers were miraculous. His astonishing technical prowess contributed to an important evolution in Highland pipe technique in the early part of the twentieth century. As a composer, the quality and lasting appeal of his tunes are unequalled. 
		The second tune, Tam Bain's Lum, is a four part pipe hornpipe by Donald Shaw Ramsay. Though it seems tame today, in the days before the modern, finger-twisting, bent-note pipe tunes, this DS Ramsay composition pushed the envelope. The tune was reportedly written about a chimney ('lum') in Laurieston, near Falkirk, in the shape of Abraham Lincoln's hat. It was part of a row of tenement houses and owned by a fellow named Tam Bain. Ramsay was apparently quite taken by the sight and named this tune after it. The tune was probably written in the early 1950s.
		John Watt &amp; Davey Stewart put together the Beggar's Mantle Ceilidh Band to accompany the songs on their album <a href="http://www.springthyme.co.uk/1002/">Shores of the Forth</a> and provide some lively ceilidh music: Jock Ritchie from Inverkeithing on fiddle, Jock Mullen from Kelty on accordion, Robin McKidd from Glenrothes on guitar and bass and Brian Miller from Penicuik on guitar and mandolin. 
		Fife’s Got Everything according to the song by John and Davey. A slightly exaggerated claim perhaps, but the two Fifers from Dunfermline and St Andrews respectively go a long way to prove it. Comedy songs, serious songs and recitations paint both a contemporary and past picture of this beautiful part of Scotland from two of the finest entertainers to come out of the ancient ‘Kingdom of Fife’. King James VI of Scotland described Fife as a ‘beggar’s mantle fringed with gold’ and this inspired the name of the band. The title song Shores of the Forth is one of the few songs on the album that was not written by John. Some of John's songs such as Kelty Clippie and Pittenweem Jo have become classics and have been recorded by several other singers since John and Davey first recorded them in 1976.
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Lochaber Gathering : Tam Bain's Lum

JOCK HAWK'S ADVENTURES 

Arthur Watson: One of many northeast songs, along with The Tarves Rant and My Rovin Eye, which warn the unsuspecting ploughman of the allure and consequences of going on the spree in village, town or city. In Aberdeenshire, Jock Hawk’s Adventures commonly shares a tune with the bothy song Guise o Tough. Here we use another Guise o Tough tune collected in the Alford area by Peter Hall in the 1960s. (GD 2:295; Roud 2331)

Arthur (vocal) with Pete (melodeon and vocal) and Tom (fiddle and vocal)

1: Ah tae Glesga toun I gaed ae nicht tae spend a penny fee, [penny fee=wage
A bonnie wee lass she gied consent tae bear me company.

Chorus: 
Hooch on linkie doo, linkie doodle day,
Hooch on linkie doodle toor aye ae.

2: We wandered through Jamaica Street doun by the Broomielaw,
The organ lads played rich and sweet and fiddlers ane or twa.

3: We gaed intae a tavern, I ordered up some gin,
And aa the folk aboot the place they smiled as we cam in.

4: We hidnae been in there an hour fan in cam half a score,
O sailor lads and quines sae braw we’d never seen afore.

5: I bocht them each a gless o gin, they drank it aff richt free,
And ilka ane they drank success tae the bonnie wee lassie and me.

6: The nicht gaed on wi mirth and sang till daylicht did appear,
Syne up come their bosun says, “All hands on deck appear.”

7: The sailors took a pairtin gless the lassies said, "Goodbye."
The hindmost ane as he gaed oot says, “Jock ye’ve aa tae pey.”

8: Noo they've taen fae me ma watch and chain and they've taen fae me ma knife,
It’s a wunner they hanna taen fae me ma wee bit spunk o life.

9: Weel I cam intae this world a bairn, sae nakit and sae bare,
And I’ll ging oot the same fae Glesga, I’ll never ging nae mair.

10: So come aa ye jolly plooman lads, a warning tak fae me,
Never ging tae Glesgae toun, ye’re better in Lochee.

Chorus: 
Hooch on linkie doo, linkie doodle day,
Hooch on linkie doodle toor aye ae.

This is the title track on their album Shepheard, Spiers & Watson: <a href="http://www.springthyme.co.uk/1042/" target="_self">They Smiled As We Cam In</a>.

c p 2006 Springthyme Records • Springthyme Music

Jock Hawk's Adventures

CALDER'S CLEAR STREAM

Pete Shepheard: In the early 1960s we would often travel up from St Andrews to visit the Stewart family at New Alyth outside Blairgowrie and, during the berrypicking season in late July/ August, we would join the berrypicking and camp beside Belle and Alex or on Marshall’s field where many of the traveller families would gather each year for the season. In the evening there was always singing and music around the camp fires and it was on such a night in August 1965 that I recorded this song from Bathgate based traveller Hughie Stewart - his favourite song (GD 5:947; Roud 3778). 

The song presumably dates from the early 1800s and may well be based on a historical event. A young miner leaves his sweetheart to fight for the King. When he is wounded in battle he thinks longingly of his sweetheart and wishes she was at his side. The word stound (pain) is pronounced by traditional singers to rhyme with the old pronunciation of wound as wownd. The Bonnie Woodha mentioned in the song (and the title of the text-only version in Greig-Duncan) is on the east bank of the North Calder water in Lanarkshire as it flows north to join the Clyde. I added the last verse myself.

Pete Shepheard (vocal) with Tom Spiers (fiddle)

1: It was down by yon green bushes by Calder’s clear stream,
Where me and my Annie dear had often times been;
Where the hours flew past as quite happy were we,
And it’s little did my Annie think a sodger I’d be.

2: O fare thee weel Annie for I must away,
For the King he needs sodgers and I must obey;
But if fortune shines on me and I do return,
Then I will walk wi ye my Annie dear by Calder’s clear burn.

3: It was on the eighteenth of August our regiment was lost,
When a bullet from the enemy our lines quickly crossed;
Caught me on the forehead and the blood come trickling down,
I reeled and I staggered and I fell unto the ground.

4: Up then stepped our captain he came up with great speed,
“O I fear by yon bullet young Dinsmore lays deid.”
Two men with a stretcher they quickly appeared,
And they carried me off to a hospital there.

5: They turned me all over my wownds for to see,
Cold water and brandy they poured around so free;
If I had my Annie dear to wash all my wownds,
Then I know that by her sweet kiss she would soon cure the stound. [stound=pain

6: When I am alone and I think on lang syne,
When I was a miner and wrocht in the mine;
The tears they do trickle and doun they do fa,
When I think on the gowans roon bonnie Woodha. [wrocht=worked; gowans=daisies

7: Now the fighting is over, the fighting is done,
And I will return to my own native home;
I will walk with my Annie dear, my Annie by my side,
And by the Calder's clear water I'll make her my bride.

This a track on their album Shepheard, Spiers & Watson: <a href="http://www.springthyme.co.uk/1042/" target="_self">They Smiled As We Cam In</a>.

c p 2006 Springthyme Records • Springthyme Music

Calder's Clear Stream

Jim Macleod's Hogmanay Party

Auld Lang Syne / a Guid New Year (feat. Mary Cameron & John Douglas)

JIgs: Strip The Willow / Rory O' More / Father O' Flynn / Saddle The Pony / Roaring Jelly

Springthyme is a record label dedicated to presenting Scotland's living tradition in song and music. Founded in 1974 by musician and singer Pete Shepheard, the label has introduced many fine singers, musicians to the world of recorded music. The very first album was recorded during the weekend traditional music festival held in Kinross in 1973 with musicians including Aly Bain and Tom Anderson and the Shetland Fiddlers and the first recording of ballad singer Stanley Robertson of Aberdeen. Other artistes on Springthyme include Jim Reid, The Foundry Bar Band, Ossian, Jock Duncan, Bill Black, Duncan Williamson, Lizzie Higgins, Jim Crawford, Tom Hughes, John Watt & Davey Stewart, Iain McLachlan and many more including a CD from Pete's own band Shepheard, Spiers & Watson. Springthyme has also issued recordings from their field recordings archive in cooperation with the Musical Traditions label.