The Wily Auld Carle
Track Information
Original Track ID
SA1956.112.A9
Original Tape ID
Summary
In this comic song, an old wife loves her husband, but another man more so. Looking for a way to kill or blind her husband, she goes to the chemist and gets some 'medicine'. She puts the medicine in her husband's eyes and he goes blind [he then tells his wife he has lost the will to live and has decided to end his life by drowning in a river; wishing to spare him the sin of taking his own life, she 'mercifully' offers to push him in]. At the riverside, she takes a run up, but he sidesteps just before she reaches him, causing her to fall in instead. When she tries to swim to the shore, he takes a fishing rod and shoves her further in.
Item Notes
Recorded in the berryfields of Blairgowrie. 6 verses and choruses of 4 lines.
Recording Location
County - Perthshire
Parish - Blairgowrie
Village/Place - Blairgowrie
Language
English
Genre
Collection
Source Type
Reel to reel
Audio Quality
Fair