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Yowie wi the Crookit Horn

Date September 1959
Track ID 39053
Part 1

Track Information

Original Track ID

SA1959.106.A2

Original Tape ID

SA1959.106

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.

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

Recording Location

County - Kincardineshire

Parish - Fetteresso

Village/Place - Stonehaven

Language

Scots

Genre

Song

Collection

SoSS

Classification

R2140

Source Type

Reel to reel

Audio Quality

Fair