Rock and a Wee Pickle Tow (A)
X:2 T:Rock & a wi pickle Tow, A M:3/4 L:1/8 R:Air Q:"Slow" S:McGibbon – Scots Tunes, book II, p. 55 (c. 1746) Z:AK/Fiddler’s Companion K:G D2 | E2G2A2 | B4d2 | (e>fg)B2 | A4 T(f>e/2f/4) | g2G2A2 | TB3A (B/c/d) | B2G2(GA) | G4 :||: (gf) | e2e2g2 | e2 efg2 | T(e>de)fgf | Te3dB2 | d3ed2 | d2e2f2 | g2fedc | {c}TB2 AB G2 | c2B2c2 | d2e2f2 | (gf)(ed)(cB) | TA4 T(f>e/2f/4) | g2G2A2 | TB2 (A<G) (G>A) |G4 :|]
X:1
T:Rock and a wi Pickle Tow, A
M:3/4
L:1/8
R:Air
Q:”Slow”
B:James Oswald – Caledonian Pocket Companion Book 1 (1760, p. 8)
Z:AK/Fiddler’s Companion
K:G
D2|(E2G2)A2|TB4 d2|(ef) g2B2|A2 (ba)(gf)|g2G2A2|
TB3A (B/c/d)|TB2 (AG)(GA)|G4::(gf)|e2e2g2|e2e2g2|
(ed)(ef)(gf)|Td3d B2|d3e d2|(d2e2)f2|g2 (fe)(dc)|
TB2 AB G2|(c2B2)c2|(d2e2)f2|(gf)(ed)(cB)|A4 (gf)|
g2G2A2|B3A (B/c/d)|TB2 (AG)(GA)|G4::D2|G4A2|
(B2c2)d2|(ef)g2B2|{B}A4g2|G4g2|e2 (AB)(cd)|
TB2 (AG)(GA)|G4::(gf)|e4 (gf)|e4 (gf)|(edBd)gf|
Te3d B2|d3 GBd|g3 GBd|g2 (fe)(dc)|
TB3A G2|c2a3c|Bd g3D|(GBd)gGB|
{B}A4 (gf)|g3 GFA|D3 cBA|TB2 (AG)(GA)|G4:|
P:Gig
M:6/8
L:1/8
D|G2A TB2g|edB TA2G|(EG)A TB2A|(BG)G G2:|
|:g|eeg eeg|deg Te2B|ddg ddg|T(Bd)g B2G|
(ca)c (Bg)B|(Aa)g (fe)f|(gd)c B2A|(BG)G G2:|]
X:1
T:Rock and wee pickle Tow, The
M:6/8
L:1/8
Q:"Slow"
S:Gow – 4th Repository (1817)
Z:AK/Fiddler’s Companion
K:F
C|C/D/FF (AF)A|(cf)A G2 c/B/|(AF)G A2~G|AFF F2:|
f|d(df) ~d2f|d(df) (dc)A|c(cd) c2d|(cf)A G2A|
B>cd dBd|{d}cBA G2B|(AF)G A2~G|AFF F2f|
(f/e/)dd ~d2f|(f/e/)dd {de}f2d|(d/c/)cc c2a|{ga}b2a {a}g2 (f/4g/4a/)|
bag fed|(cf)A G2 (f/4g/4b/)|afg a>bg/b/|aff f2||
X: 1
T: ROCK AND WEE PICKLE TOW
O: 1806
B: "Caledonian Musical Repository", 1806, p.138-146
F: http://digital.nls.uk/special-collections-of-printed-music/pageturner.cfm?id=87661539
Z: 2013 John Chambers <jc:trillian.mit.edu>
M: 3/4
L: 1/4
K: G
% - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
D E G A | B2 d/ d/ | e> d B |
w: There was an auld wife had a wee pick-le
{B}A2 (d/c/) | B G A | (B> c) (A/d/) | B G2 |
w: tow, And* she wad gae try* the* spin-ning
G2 D | E G A | B2 d | e g B |
w: o't; But loot-ing her down, her rock took a
{B}A2 (d/c/) | B G A | B2 A | B G2 | G2 |]
w: low, And* that was an ill be-gin-ning o't.
g | e e g | e e g | e e g |
w: She spat on't, she flet on't, and trampt on its
%page 139
(e d) B | d> e d | d> e f | g f e |
w: pow,* But a' that she did on-ly blew up the
{e}d2 B | c> B c | d e f | g d B |
w: low; She curs'd baith the rock and the wee pick-le
{B}A2 f | g G A | B2 (A/d/) | B G2 | G2 |]
w: tow, A-lack! for the drea-ry spin-ning o't.
% - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
W:2.I've wanted a sark for these eight years and ten,
W: And this was to be the beginning o't;
W: But I vow I shall want it for as lang again,
W: Or ever I try the spinning o't.
W: For never, since ever they ca'd me's they ca' me,
W: Did sic a mishap and mishanter befa' me;
W: Ye shall hae leave baith to hang me and draw me,
W: If ever I try the spinning o't.
W:
W:3.I hae kept a house for these threescore o' years,
W: And never did try the spinning o't;
W: But how I was sacked, foul fa' them that spiers,
W: It minds me upo' the beginning o't.
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W: But women are now-a-days turned sae braw,
W: That ilk ane maun hae a sark, some maun hae twa,
W: The warld was better when the fient ane ava,
W: To hinder the first beginning o't.
W:
W:4.Foul fa' them that ever advis'd me to spin,
W: That had been sae lang o' beginning o't;
W: I weel might hae ended as I did begin,
W: Nor got sic a fear wi' the spinning o't:
W: But they say she's a wise wife wha kens her ain weird;
W: I thought ance on a day it wad never been spier'd,
W: How loot ye the low tak the rock by the beard,
W: When ye gade to try the spinning o't?
W:
W:5.The spinning, the spinning, it gars my heart sab,
W: When I think upon the beginning o't;
W: I thought ere I died to have made me a wab,
W: But still I had weirs o' the spinning o't.
W: But had I nine daughters, as I hae but three,
W: The safest and soundest advice I wad gie,
W: Is that they frae spinning wad keep their hands free,
W: For fear of a bad beginning o't.
W:
W:6.Yet in spite of my counsel, if they will needs run
W: The drearysome task o' the spinning o't,
W: Let them seek a lown place in the heat o' the sun,
W: And there venture on the beginning o't.
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W: But to do as I did, alas and avow!
W: To busk up my rock by the cheek o' the low,
W: Some may say that I had little wit in my pow,
W: And as little to do wi' the spinning o't.
W:
W:7.But yet, after a', there is ae thing that grieves
W: My heart, to think on the beginning o't;
W: Had I won but the length o' ae pair o' sleeves,
W: Then there wad been word o' the spinning o't:
W: Then I'd hae twa washin' and bleached like snaw.
W: And on my twa gardies like muggons to draw,
W: And then fouk wad say that auld Grizzy was braw,
W: And a' was upon her ain spinning o't.
W:
W:8.But gin I wad shog about till a new spring,
W: I should yet hae a bout o' the spinning o't;
W: A mutchkin o' lintseed I'd in the yird fling,
W: For a' the wanchancie beginning o't.
W: I'll gar my ain Tammie gang down to the howe,
W: And cut me a rock o' the withershins grow,
W: O' gude rantry-tree, for to carry my tow,
W: And a spindle o' the same for the twining o't.
W:
W:9.For now when I mind me, I met Maggy Grim,
W: That morning, just at the beginning o't;
W: She was ne'er ca'd chancy, but unlucky and slim,
W: And sae it has far'd o' my spinning o't.
%page 142
W: But gin my new rock were ance cutted and dry,
W: Ise a' Maggy's can and her cantrips defy,
W: And, but ony soothing, the spinning I'll try,
W: And yese a' hear o' the beginning o't.
W:
W:10.Quo' Tibby her daughter, tak tent what ye say,
W: The never a rag we'll be seeking o't;
W: Gin ye ance begin, ye'll traverse night and day,
W: Sae it's vain ony mair to be speaking o't.
W: Since Lammas I'm now gane thirty and twa,
W: And ne'er a dud sark had I yet, great or sma',
W: And what waur am I? I'm as warm and as braw
W: As thrummmy-tail'd Meg, that's a spinner o't.
W:
W:11.To labour lint land, and then buy the seed,
W: And then to yoke me to the harrowing o't,
W: And syne hobble amang't, and pick out ilka weed,
W: Like a swine in a sty, at the farrowing o't:
W: Syne bowing, and rippling, and steeping, and then
W: To gar's gae and spread it upon the cauld plain;
W: And then, after a', maybe labour in vain,
W: When the wind and the weet gets the fushon o't.
W:
W:12.But though it should happen the weather to bide,
W: Wi' beetles we're set to the drubbing o't;
W: And then frae our fingers to gudge a' the hide,
W: Wi' the wearisome wark o' the spinning o't.
%page 143
W: And syne ilka tait maun be heckled out-through,
W: The lint putten ae gate, anither the tow,
W: Sjne on a rock with it, and it taks a low:
W: The back o' my hand to the spinning o't.
W:
W:13.Quo' Jenny, I think, woman, ye're in the right,
W: Set your feet a-spar to the spinning o't;
W: We may tak our advice frae our ain mither's fright,
W: That she gat when she tried the spinning o't.
W: But they'll say that auld fouk are twice bairns indeed,
W: And sae has she kyth'd it, but there is nae need,
W: To sic an amshah that we drive out o' head,
W: As lang's we're sae scar'd frae the spinning o't,
W:
W:14.Quo' Nancy the youngest, I've now heard you a%
W: And dowy's your doom o' the spinning o't;
W: Gin ye fan, the cow flings, the cog's cast awa,
W: Ye may see where ye'll lick up your winning o't.
W: But I see that by spinning ye'll never be braw.
W: But gae by the name o' a dilp or a daw;
W: But lick where ye like, I shall ance shake a fa',
W: Afore I be dung wi' the spinning o't.
W:
W:15.For weel can I mind me, when black Willie Bell
W: Had Tibbie there, just at the winning o't,
W: What blew up the bargain, she kens weel hersel,
W: Was the want o' the knack o' the spinning o't,
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W: And now, poor woman, for ought that I ken,
W: She never may get sic an offer again,
W: But pine awa, bit and bit, like Jenkin's hen,
W: And naething to wyte but the spinning o't.
W:
W:16.But were it for naething but just that alane,
W: I shall yet hae a bout at the spinning o't;
W: They may cast me, and e'en ca' me black at the bane,
W: But no 'cause I shunn'd the beginning o't.
W: But be that as it happens, I carena a strae,
W: For nane o' the lads e'er shall hae it to say,
W: When he comes to woo, she kens naething ava,
W: Nor has ony can at the spinning o't.
W:
W:17.It's needless for us to tak our remarks
W: Frae our mither's miscooking the spinning o't;
W: She never kend ought o' the gude o' the sarks,
W: Frae this, a' back to the spinning o't.
W: Three ell o' plaiding was a' that was sought
W: By our auld waly bodies, and that boot be bought,
W: For in ilka town sickan things were na wrought,
W: Sae little they kend o' the spinning o't.
W:
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X:1
T:Rock and we pickle Tow
M:6/8
L:1/8
R:Jig
S:The Buttery Manuscript (c. 1784-1820, No. 952)
N:John Buttery (1784-1854) joined the 34th Regiment in Lincoln,
N:Lincolnshire, England, in 1797 and served as a fifer until discharged in
N:1814. His large ms. contains marches, duty calls, dance tunes and airs.
N:EASMES identifies this as the Fife MS. and suggests a date of 1780, see
N: https://www.cdss.org/elibrary/Easmes/Index.htm
Z:AK/Fiddler’s Companion
K:G
D|GAG ABd|(e/f/)gB A2d|BGA B2A|BGG G2:|
g|eeg eeg|e>fg edB|d>ed d>ed|dgd dBG|
c>Bc dBd|egB A2d|BGA B2A|BGG G2||
X:1
T:Rock and wee pickle tow, A
M:6/8
L:1/8
S:John Rook music manuscript collection (1840, p. 25)
N:Rook was a multi-instrumentalist from Waverton, near Wigton, Cumbria
Z:AK/Fiddler’s Companion
K:G
D|G2A B2g|edB A2G|DGA B2A|BGG G2g|
G2A B2g|edB A2G|DGA B2A|BGG G2||
g|eeg eeg|deg e2B|ddf ddf|TBdg B2G|
cac cgc|Aag fef|fdc B2A|BGG G2||
X:1
T:Rock and a wee pickle tow, The
M:6/8
L:1/8
R:Air
S:John Rook music manuscript collection (Waverton, Cumbria, 1840, p. 207)
Z:AK/Fiddler’s Companion
K:G
D|D>EG ABd|e>dB {B}A2 d/c/|BGA B2A|BGG G2 G/E/|
D>EG ABd|egB {B}A2 d/c/|BGA B2 A/A/|BGG G2||g|
eeg def|gfe edB|d>ed d>ef|gfe {e}d2B|
c>Bc def|gdB {B}A2f|gGA B2A|BGG G2||
X:1
T:Wee Pickle Tow, The
M:6/8
L:1/8
R:Jig
S:I got this tune from Proinseas mac Suibhne, who learned to
S:play it from hearing his father whistle it. The tune is not
S:well known in Tearmann now, except by the older people."
B:Padraig Mac Aodh O'Neill - Songs of Uladh (1904, p. 15)
Z:AK/Fiddler's Companion
K:G
(G|G)AA BAB|Bgg B/c/BA|GED G2A|BAA AGE|
GAA BAB|Bgg B/c/BA|GED G2(A|B)GG G2:|
|:e2g e2d|efg edB|d2e d2B|dee dBG|
{c}BBA Bcd|efg B/c/BA|GED G2A|BGG G2:|]