The Tarves Rant
Track Information
Original Track ID
SA1952.10.A10; SA1952.10.A11
Original Tape ID
Summary
The singer, a baillie [cattleman], promises to tell a true story from near Tarves. He is not a horseman or ploughman but a cattleman and one night he goes to Tarves for a drink and some fun.
Willie Mathieson learned the song at Little Meldrum, Tarves. There were no meal-and-ales [harvest celebrations] at Tarves, no bannocks or beef brose; but at Rhynie they had these and plenty of other celebrations. Anyone who turned up was welcome at a wedding.
Item Notes
Text transcribed in School of Scottish Studies. 4 verses. 12 verses in Willie Mathieson's MSS (I:180). The full song involves the young man getting drunk, arrested and fined. Tune may be a variant of 'Nicky Tams'.
See:
Greig-Duncan vol. 3, pp. 391-396
Recording Location
County - Aberdeenshire
Parish - Ellon
Village/Place - Ellon
Item Location
County - Aberdeenshire
Parish - Tarves
Village/Place - Little Meldrum
Language
Scots
Genre
Collection
Source Type
Reel to reel
Audio Quality
Good