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The Tarves Rant

Date January 1952
Track ID 17544
Part 1

Track Information

Original Track ID

SA1952.10.A10; SA1952.10.A11

Original Tape ID

SA1952.010

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

Collection

SoSS

Classification

R4847 GD576

Source Type

Reel to reel

Audio Quality

Good