Jock Hawk's Adventures

On Autumn Harvest AH 002
Old Songs & Bothy Ballads - Here's a Health to the Company

Arthur Watson sings with Pete Shepheard (melodeon) & Tom Spiers (fiddle):

A song that tells the tale of a young man who ventures into Glasgow to ‘spend his penny fee’, ending up with the loss of more than he bargained for. This song is often sung to the same tune as that commonly found with the bothy ballad Guise o Tough. Here Arthur has taken a text for Jock Hawk from Greig-Duncan (GD 2: 295) (where there are ten versions) and set it to an unusual Guise o Tough tune that Peter Hall collected in the Alford area in the 1960s.

1: Ah tae Glesga toun I gaed ae nicht tae spend a penny fee,
A bonnie wee lass she gied consent tae bear me company.
Hooch on linkie doo, linkie doodle day,
Hooch on linkie doodle too rye ae.

2: Weel we wandered doun Jamaica Street doun by the Broomielaw,
The organ lads played rich and sweet and fiddlers een or twa.

3: Weel we gaed intae a tavern and ordered up some gin,
Aa the folk aboot the place they smiled as we cam in.

4: Weel we hadna been in there an hour fan in cam half a score,
O sailor lads and quines sae braw we’d never seen afore.

5: Weel I bocht them each a gless o gin, they drank it aff sae free,
Ilka een they drunk success tae the bonnie wee lassie and me.

6: Weel the nicht gaed on wi mirth and sang till daylicht did appear,
Syne up come their bosun says, “All hands on deck appear.”

7: Weel the sailors took a pairtin gless the lassies said, “Goodbye.”
The hindmost een as he gaed oot says, “Jock ye’ve aa tae pey.”

8: Weel they’ve taen fae me ma watch and chain and they’ve taen fae me ma knife,
It’s a wunner they hanna taen fae me ma wee bit spunk o life.

9: Weel I cam intae this world a bairn, sae nakit and sae bare,
And I’ll ging oot the same fae Glesga, I’ll never ging nae mair.

10: So come aa ye jolly plooman lads, a warnin tak fae me,
Never ging tae Glesgae toun, ye’re better in Lochee.
Hooch on linkie doo, linkie doodle day,
Hooch on linkie doodle too rye ae;
Hooch on linkie doo, linkie doodle day,
Hooch on linkie doodle too rye ae.

c p 2005 Autumn Harvest AH002
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