Amang The Whinny Knowes
Track Information
Original Track ID
SA1952.53.A2
Original Tape ID
Summary
A song of love and courtship, with celebration of the pleasures of rural life; the singer describes how he courted his sweetheart: "We sought for joy and found it / Whaur yon we burnie rowes / Whaur the echo mocks the corncraik / Amang the whinny knowes." He chides women who pay dearly for perfume in town, saying "rural joy is free to a'". The song ends with the onset of winter, but the singer looks forward to welcoming back the corncraik in summertime.
William Milne learned the song from his mother.
Item Notes
Text transcribed in School of Scottish Studies. 4 verses of 4 lines. Also known as '(The Echo Mocks) The Corncrake(aik)'. The folk-song scholar Gavin Greig did not consider this song to be traditional, but rather well-composed in a traditional style by an unknown author.
See:
Greig-Duncan vol. 5, pp. 23-24, no. 945
'Come Gie's a Sang' (S. Douglas, 1995) p. 107
'Vagabond Songs & Ballads' vol. 2 (R. Ford, 1901) pp. 244-246
'Sam Henry's Songs of the People' (G. Huntington, 1990) p. 272
'Till Doomsday in the Afternoon' (E. MacColl & P. Seeger, 1986) pp. 201-202
'Folk-Song of the North-East' (G. Greig, K. Goldstein & A. Argo, 1963
reprint) art. no. CLXXV
Item Location
County - Ayrshire
Village/Place - River Ayr
Language
Scots
Genre
Collection
Source Type
Reel to reel
Audio Quality
Good