O What Did he Feck ye?
Track Information
Original Track ID
SA1962.74.A1-4
Original Tape ID
Summary
The following song in cant was composed spontaneously by a Traveller named Sandy MacLeod at MacIntyre's berryfield in Blairgowrie around thirty-nine years before:
O what did he feck ye? A loosie ha'penny?
The greedy aul misert - he shoulda fecked twa!
O stall yer mangin - here bings the gadgie!
For we love Jesus, yes we do!
[O what did he give you - a lousy halfpenny?
The greedy old miser, he should've given two!
O stop talking - here comes the man!
For we love Jesus, yes we do!]
Jeannie Robertson explains that the singer was criticising a missionary who had [only] given a child a halfpenny; the missionary was again approaching, and so the last two lines of the song were to warn the listeners and to pretend to be singing a hymn.
Item Notes
1 verse of 4 lines. Composed spontaneously by a Traveller named Sandy MacLeod at MacIntyre's berryfield in Blairgowrie around thirty-nine years before.
Item Subject/Person
MacLeod, Sandy
Item Location
County - Perthshire
Parish - Blairgowrie
Village/Place - Blairgowrie
Language
Scots, Traveller Cant (Scots/Romani)
Genre
Collection
Source Type
Reel to reel
Audio Quality
Fair