Tobar an Dualchais - Kist O Riches

Title - The Tarves Rant
Contributors - Willie Mathieson
Reporters - Hamish Henderson

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 these and plenty of other celebrations. Anyone who arrived was welcome at a wedding. He doubts if the new generation carry on these traditions.

Track Duration (h:m:s) - 00:02:34
Date Recorded - 1952.01
Language - Scots
Genre - Information, Song
Collection - School of Scottish Studies

Track ID - 17544
Original Tape ID - SA1952.010
Original Track ID - SA1952.10.A10; SA1952.10.A11



Recording Location:
  County - Aberdeenshire
  Parish - Ellon
  Village - Ellon


Item Location:
  County - Aberdeenshire
  Parish - Tarves
  Village - Little Meldrum

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

Permanent Link - http://www.tobarandualchais.co.uk/fullrecord/17544/1