Cameloun

Original Track ID

SA1954.94.A5

Original Tape ID

SA1954.094

Summary

In this bothy ballad, the singer describes the conditions at Cameloun farm where he works and gives an account of some of the workers: the baillie [cow handler] wears a shirt "as lang's himsel" and the dairy-maid is shy in the company of the baillie lad [cowherd]. The singer drives a pair of horse, but gets in trouble one day for being sick due to excessive drinking the night before.

Learned from a man in Mintlaw.

Item Notes

10 verses of 4 lines. Greig quotes J. W. Spence of Fyvie as citing one R. Cooper as the author of this song. In some versions, the singer rows with the foreman, demands his pay then leaves the farm; in many versions he simply vows never to return.

See:
Greig-Duncan vol. 3, pp. 92-94 (no. 389)
'Bothy Songs & Ballads' (J. Ord, 1930) pp. 260-261
'Folk Song in Buchan' (G. Greig, K. Goldstein, A. Argo, 1963 reprint) pp. 72-73
'Folk-Song of the North-East' (G. Greig, K. Goldstein, A. Argo, 1963 reprint) art. XVI

Recording Location

Item Location

Language

Scots

Genre

Song Information

Collection

SoSS

Classification

R5592 GD389

Source Type

Reel to reel

Audio Quality

Fair