A Pair o Nicky Tams
Track Information
Original Track ID
SA1953.235.A6
Original Tape ID
Summary
A comic song in which the singer celebrates his nicky-tams, which are not only very useful at work, but also admired by the woman he is courting.
Preceded by a brief introduction from Hamish Henderson.
Item Notes
7 verses. A song by the famous bothy balladeer G. S. Morris. 'Nicky Tams' were leather thongs (or sometimes pieces of cord) tied below the farmworker's knee in order to keep the trouser legs from trailing in the mud (and allegedly to prevent rats and mice from crawling up the legs). The name derives from 'Nicky' as an allusion to 'knicker-bockers' (which were fashionable at the tim) and 'Tams' from 'Taum', meaning 'cord'.
See:
'101 Scottish Songs' (Buchan) pp. 48-49
'Kerr's Buchan Bothy Ballads' 2 (1957) pp. 2-3
Recording Location
County - Midlothian
Parish - Edinburgh
Village/Place - Edinburgh
Language
English, Scots
Genre
Collection
Classification
Source Type
Reel to reel
Audio Quality
Fair