Scottish Tradition : An Teallach "When Yellow's On The Broom"

[UISTMAN59]

@tweirhouston Thank you. Glad you enjoyed it.

[HohnerMadJock]

BELOW IS A LINK TO A PROGRAME ON BBC2 SCOTLAND ABOUT, SCOTTISH TRAVELLERS, YOU WILL ENJOY.

bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b010­bbgz/Travellers_Episode_1/

[TheSheenaWellington]

Great version - I love Jake Donnely's voice! It's neither fenian nor Ulster, btw, the words are by Glasgow songwriter Adam McNaughtan and was written after he read Betsy Whyte's autobiography called "Yellow on the Broom" and the tune is from an English (Norfolk origin, I believe) ballad "The Female Drummer".

[UISTMAN59]

@TheSheenaWellington Thanks for the note - I was a bit bemsued about the Ulster till I saw the earlier daft comment! :-)

[TheSheenaWellington]

@UISTMAN59 Yes, it was a bit dim - obviously someone who didn't understand a word!

[kirriekiwi]

Great video and brings back happy memories for me as a kid playing with the tinkies kids in their camp up the top oh the Slade in Kirriemuir in the 40ties also we went to school to-gether and picked berries ,Happy Memories . thanks again Kirrie Kiwi.

[UISTMAN59]

@kirriekiwi Thanks for your comment. My late father in law belonged to Kirrie and his sister emigrated to NZ many years ago. Have a great new Year . :-) Regards, Iain.

[cullybackeypb]

I wonder is this an oul fenain song or would it be an ulster song

[UISTMAN59]

@cullybackeypb What's wrong with reading the notes I put up when I posted the song - that would save you making misguided guesses such as this?

[UISTMAN59]

@cullybackeypb What's wrong with reading the notes I put up when I posted the song - that would save you making misguided guesses such as this?

[Erkele]

So lovely. Thanks much ! - Erkele

[lewis1936]

Very much enjoyed this version of the song. I well remember the travellers sites on

the Isle of Lewis,at the Blackwater.Tong .Marybank and Barvas road. As they say in

the song they must all be "cooped up in hooses noo."

[UISTMAN59]

@lewis1936 I remember the Lewis travellers coming to Uist in the late Sixties and camping at Lochcarnan road end near the market stance.

[thorplands9]

very enjoyable have you any more songs Uistman59 ?

[UISTMAN59]

@thorplands9 Hi there. Thanks for the note. The short answer is I have 149 videos and a good number of them are songs (none of them sung by me!) but whether you would like them all is another question. I hope you have a look aroiund my channel and find some that you will enjoy :-)

[thorplands9]

@UISTMAN59 Many thanks I enjoyed many of your video songs particularly Calum Kennedy I have always been a big fan since I saw him on stage in Dundee a long time ago- 60's .

[mikenorx]

This version is beautiful Who is the singer please?

[UISTMAN59]

@mikenorx Thanks for trhe comment. The singer on this track is Jake Donnelly. The track is from the album "Cathing the Sunrise".Sorry I took a few days to reply.

[naebodyteltme]

Who's the singer of this version? It's the best Iv'd heard yet.

[eschenhuber]

After converting a Cilla Fisher version I found on an old tape - not so powerful as this - into mp3 I wanted to check the translation on the net (I am a German) and, fortunately, found your video, which left nothing to ask for. The meaning is in the pictures. Thanks for the effort (although, if it comes to tinkers: let bygones be bygones).

[UISTMAN59]

@eschenhuber Thanks for the note. I hope you also found the lyrics useful. :-)

[MegaArchitect1]

great song, beautifully sung.

[UISTMAN59]

@MegaArchitect1 Thanks for your comment Bill.

[LindsayCurran]

This is wonderful - lovely! Many thanks for so the marvelous pictures, beautiful music, the lyrics- and such wonderful commentators sharing knowledge! Top******** s to you all!

[SANGEO212]

Sorry UISTMAN I overlooked your introductory comments - it must have been the nappy!!!

My memories of tinkers leans towards the Aberdweenshire area whereas the 'Broom'song refers more to areas south of there.

I came across mention of tinkers repairing pots an pans and roosers - havenn't heard that word in a lot o years.

I now live in WoS but you can take the man out of the NE. You can't take the NE out of the man.

[UISTMAN59]

It's the other way with myself being from the WOS but now living in the NE :-)

[SANGEO212]

This song smacks of a time when traveling people(some would say tinkers) travelled around the country doing whatever casual work they could find. There are many references in Scottish folk music as to their existence where mention is made of the repair of pots and pans, berry picking(this songs talks about the fields o Blair.) THey were also very closely involved in the sale of horses as recorded in the memories of the Aikey fair in Aberdeenshire.

[UISTMAN59]

It was obviously intended to, as per the notes on top right. The picture at 1:00 is indeed of Aikey Brae. Thanks for the note. :-)

[SANGEO212]

My father was born in New Pitsligo so the Aikey fair was well known to him. I believe it was an enormously popular affair and much remembered by an ever reducing number of cairds

[bobknightfolk]

@SANGEO212  Aikey Fair or Aikey Brae as it was sometimes called, was a horse fair - my grandfather Davy Stewart AKA "Shooting Hill Davy" was a horse dealer in the early part of the 20th Century. Many of the travellers were horse dealers, but it was already a dying trade before World War Two.

[GardylooOregon]

I confess, I took that date off the top of me head. I got that photo from the Iron Monger shop in Beauly in 1980. If you want to see some great pictures of Tinkers, then get "The Summer of '89" by Bob Charnley. Delightful book with get account of how and when pictures were taken.

[GardylooOregon]

The photo at the 38 sec mark is: Beauly just near Inverness, in about 1890.

[UISTMAN59]

Thanks for the mote . According to the book it is early 20th Century. The photo comes from the School of Scottish Studies but I don't know who took the original photo. :-)

[sandywilson100]

I heard Adam McNaughton sing this recently and I thought it was such a gorgeous song...thanks for uploading it.

[UISTMAN59]

Thanks for your note sandywilson100. Glad you liked this one :-).

[mandolinda6]

I love this one :)

[owlet1963]

Iain, I am very grateful you posted the lyrics, because without them, I had not much of a clue what he was singing! (that's what happens to French people liking Irish,, celtic and Scottish tunes, he he) It's a really cool post, thanks for sharing!!

[UISTMAN59]

Hi Nathalie, Thanks for the note. If it it all makes some kind of sense with the lyrics listed its not so bad. Glad you liked it :-)

[RidseardMhicCoinnich]

I remember seeing covered dwelling like the ones shown on the mud flats of the Morray Firth as I appproached Inverness on the train in the early 1960s, made me glad of the comfort in the barracks at Fort George. I can still remember the name of the families that lived in them. Beutiful song and photos, thanks

[UISTMAN59]

Thanks for the note Ridseard. :-)

[PennyPaola]

Suggestive photos, and beautiful music, even if kinda melancholic ... and I like the "turning-pages" effect!

Thanks Iain! :)

[UISTMAN59]

AyePaola we Scots do melancholy very well :-)

[wisnaemeinCoventry]

I was but six when my two uncles took me on a holiday to the berry fields of Blair in the fifties.

...and when the pails had been counted and weighed and at the end of a summers day we gathered for a ceilidh outside the neighbour's ex army bell tent. They were of the travelling folk.. As the cheery fire danced shadows and light apon our faces, we sat with our bellies full of lovely stew and stovies. We all had to do a turn and Bella Stewart sat me on her knee when she sang. Wonderful memories.

[UISTMAN59]

Nice to hear from you again my friend :-)

, thanks for the note -

[killiekentman]

not heard this for years,  and i remember the band.

[UISTMAN59]

Thanks Ray

[mandolinda6]

Great vid!

:)

[UISTMAN59]

Thanks Linda . Had it in mind for a good while but I just got Duncan Williamson's book the other day and I knew it was time to finish it off right.

[Dunollieman]

Another good one, I remember when I was a boy the tinkers came to Oban about once a year for about 6 weeks or so then they moved on.

[UISTMAN59]

Thanks for the note Dunollieman. Glad you enjoyed this one.

[WhiteTiger333]

Cooped up in hooses when the yella's on the broom. Uh-huh, I know people like that. Excellent song and lovely photos. All the horses in the photos looked well cared for. :)

[UISTMAN59]

Hi Lorraine, thanks for the note. Glad you liked this one.

[pastore0506]

A great song, which tell a tale. Good selection of images!

George

[UISTMAN59]

Thanks George. :-)