Jock Geddes and the Soo
Track Information
Original Track ID
SA1962.27.A4
Original Tape ID
Summary
A comic song in which Jock Geddes goes to market with a warning from his mother not to return drunk; despite this, he meets a friend and the two carouse together. On his way home, Jock falls in a midden and passes into a drunken sleep. A pig licks his mouth, which Jock takes for an amorous maid. On sobering up and realising that he has been kissed by a pig, Jock vows never to drink again.
Willie Scott first heard the song from a gamekeeper around 1907, and later found a written copy; the name 'A. Thomson' was written below the song, though Willie does not know whether he was the composer or not.
Item Notes
9 verses of 4 lines with refrain; no refrain after verses 1, 3 and 8. Sung to the tune 'Ruffian's Rant' by Robert Bremner (c. 1713-1789), also known as the tune to 'Roy's Wife o Aldivalloch' (Roud Folk Song Index no. 5137). Charles Middleton mentions that this song took a prize in a song competition organised by 'The People's Friend'.
'Sandy Campbell' was a nickname for a pig: see the explanation in 'Tocher' 20 (1975, p. 151).
See:
'Tocher' 25 (1977) pp. 44-45
Greig-Duncan vol. 3, p. 388, no. 573
'Herd Laddie o the Glen' (A. McMorland, 1988, 2006) pp. 104-105
'Middleton's Selection of Humourous Scotch Songs' vol. 1 (C. Middleton, 1884) pp. 107-109
Item Subject/Person
Geddes, Jock
Language
Scots
Genre
Collection
Source Type
Reel to reel
Audio Quality
Fair