Tobar an Dualchais - Kist O Riches

Title - Yowie wi the Crookit Horn
Contributors - Jeannie Robertson
Reporters - Hamish Henderson

Summary - Fragment of 'The Yowie wi the Crookit Horn', in which a man owns a much-appreciated illicit still (the ewe with the crooked horn) until it is stolen by a 'nickum' [rascal].

Jeannie Robertson cannot recall the remainder of the song.

Track Duration (h:m:s) - 00:01:56
Date Recorded - 1959.09
Language - Scots
Genre - Song
Collection - School of Scottish Studies

Track ID - 39053
Original Tape ID - SA1959.106
Original Track ID - SA1959.106.A2
Audio Quality - Fair
Audio Format - R2R

Classification - R2140;


Recording Location:
  County - Kincardineshire
  Parish - Fetteresso
  Village - Stonehaven

Item Notes - 2 verses of 8 lines. In the missing verse, the singer vows: "Gin I had the lad that did it /I wid kill him as sure as I said it / ... / I wid gie his neck a thraa."
Despite the popular re-write by the Rev. John Skinner (1721-1807), pastor of Longside in Aberdeenshire, which appeared in Johnson's 'Scots Musical Museum' vol. 3 (1853 edition, no. 293), and which implies that the 'ewie' in the song is an actual sheep, older traditional versions of this song, such as those preserved by the Traveller community, tell us clearly that the "ewie wi the crookit horn" is an illicit still.
See:
'Tocher 23' (1976) pp. 264-265
'Folksongs of Britain & Ireland' (P. Kennedy, 1975) p. 603
'Vagabond Songs & Ballads' vol. 1 (R. Ford, 1899) pp. 87-90
'Jeannie Robertson: Emergent Singer, Transformative Voice' (J. Porter & H. Gower, 1995) pp. 143-144

Permanent Link - http://www.tobarandualchais.co.uk/fullrecord/39053/1


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