Susannes Folksong-Notizen
[1927:] The reaping scythe was introduced into the north of Scotland by William Anderson, farmer, Hatton of Fintry, Aberdeenshire, in 1810, but the old shearing-hook was not quite superceded by the scythe for many years afterwards. The shearing was mostly done by women. The value of a day's work was calculated by the number of thraves cut. A thrave consisted of two stooks of twelve sheaves each. To cut seven or eight thraves was considered a good day's work for a shearer. After the introduction of the scythe, the best men cut the corn; the women gathered it into sheaves, and made the bands; while younger men, as a rule, bound and stooked the sheaves. The bandster could claim a kiss from the gatherer for each band whose knot slipped in the binding, and a well known Aberdeenshire author remarks that where both were young, and the girl fair to look upon, such forfeits occurred with amazing rapidity. (Ord, Bothy Songs 19f)
[1966:] From the singing of Jeannie Robertson. [...] Bonnie Lassie O [The Shearin's No For You] is a dry mordant comment on the lassie who cannot quite grasp that her dancing days are over, and that she had better get on with the job of looking after her weans. It's an infinitely better song than the one that has replaced it to that tune Kelvin Grove by Thomas Lyle, which could stand as a model for the 'verdant greenery' school of Scottish writers. [...] Needless to say, it is the Kelvin Grove version which gets taught in our schools. (Norman Buchan, notes 'The Fisher Family')
[1976:] Obwohl dieses Lied aus den Liederbüchern des 19. Jahrhunderts verbannt worden ist, weil es von der Vergewaltigung einer Frau handelt, ist es eigentlich eins der schönsten Liebeslieder [sic!], die vom Volk gesungen werden. Die Worte stammen aus Buchan und Aberdeenshire von der Ostküste Schottlands. Alex kannte den ersten Vers schon immer, den Rest hat er von den Tannahill Weavers gelernt. Die Melodie ist auch für das Lied aus Glasgow 'The Lass o' Kelvinside' bekannt. (Michael Reinhardt, notes Alex Campbell, 'Big Daddy of Folk Music')
[1979:] Thomas Lyle found this song a little indelicate for his taste and using the tune, produced his own anaemic Kelvingrove. Jeannie Robertson's singing of Tak' the Buckles frae your sheen put the song firmly back into circulation and it was from her singing and that of Ian Sinclair of Thurso that I came to the song as it is now. (Notes Jean Redpath, 'Father Adam')
[1979:] Shearing is not sheep-shearing here, but corn harvesting. Traditionally this was women's work and taken over by men only in the mid-nineteenth century. The song probably dates from the early nineteenth century. (Henderson/Armstrong 31)
[1980:] Andere Lieder gibt es, in denen [...] der Vergewaltiger ein gleichgestellter Mann ist: ein Beispiel dafür ist The Shearin's No For You, zu finden auf einer Alex-Campbell-LP [Big Daddy of Folk Music]. Das Mädchen ist schwanger, der Mann geht in sich, will sie heiraten, ich erwarte einen Kommentar, der darauf eingeht, wie beschissen eine Gesellschaft ist, in der die Frau noch froh sein muß, wenn sie den Mann zu allem Überfluß auch noch heiraten muß - und lese: "Obwohl dieses Lied [...] von der Vergewaltigung einer Frau handelt, ist es eigentlich eins der schönsten Liebeslieder, die vom Volk gesungen werden." (Gabriele Haefs, Folk Michel 17)
[1984:] This traditional song has rarely been published but is in fact widely known in a number of different versions and must date back at least to the 1700s. Around 1820, Thomas Lyle of Paisley used the tune for his famous song Kelvingrove. (Notes Jim Reid, 'I Saw the Wild Geese Fly')
[1995:] My perjink music teacher, attempting to teach us Thomas Lyle's genteel Kelvingrove, had the eight year old me removed from the classroom when I sang the 'belly's rowin fu' verse. There are many versions, some with rape, desertion and murder involved, but I like the rueful tenderness of this one [version 2]. (Notes Sheena Wellington, 'Strong Women')
Further notes see Kelvin Grove
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