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The Muckin o Geordie's byre

Contributors
Date October 1953
Track ID 2764
Part 1

Track Information

Original Track ID

SA1953.237.A5

Original Tape ID

SA1953.237

Summary

A comic song describing the poor state of Geordie MacIntyre's byre and the accidents that befall him and his family as they try to get the mess in order. As Geordie, his wife (as "unco sweir" [reluctant to work, lazy] as himself) and their daughter begin cleaning, the soo [sow] receives a kick from the cow, shoves its head through the wife's gown as she is "booin doon" [bending down], and carries her off on its back. When she roars out, her daughter runs to her aid, only to trip over the boar, causing it to run off and head straight into a beehive. All this commotion scares the postman's pony, and it too runs off. As the chorus says, "siccan a soss [such a mess] ye nivver hae seen as the muckin o Geordie's byre".

Item Notes

5 verses with chorus. This is the version popularised by G. S. Morris. Another great bothy balladeer, Willie Kemp, sang a different version of his own. Both versions are themselves adaptations of an old song that has been reworked over centuries by numerous poets and rhymers.

Although Morris' opening line is "At a little craft upon the hill", some singers have been known to sing something closer to "At a relic aul' craft" or even "At a lyrical craft". Some current-day bothy singers have inherited one of these variant phrases, primary from the singing of Jimmy MacBeath. We might speculate that MacBeath's actual phrase was something like "At a rickle aul craft".

See:
Greig-Duncan vol. 7, no. 1303
'Kerr's Cornkisters' pp. 44-46
'Kerr's "Buchan" Bothy Ballads' (G. S. Morris) pp. 28-29
'Songs of Scotland Prior to Burns' (R. Chambers) pp. 234-235
'Scots Musical Museum' vol. 1 (J. Johnson) p. 97 (No.96)
'Ancient & Modern Scottish Songs' vol. 2 (D. Herd, 1869/1973 edn.) p. 339
'Ancient & Modern Scottish Songs' vol. 2 (D. Herd, 1869/1973 edn.) pp. 201-202

Recording Location

County - Midlothian

Parish - Edinburgh

Village/Place - Edinburgh

Language

Scots

Genre

Song

Collection

SoSS

Classification

R2137 GD1303

Source Type

Reel to reel

Audio Quality

Fair