FTX-058 - TRAMPS AND HAWKERS

JIMMY MacBEATH -1-

Documentary of a man of the open road, storyteller, balladsinger & descendant of Shakespeare's tragic hero. First of three volumes, this one tells about the tinkers & their cant language, his own family and his remarkable encounters & experiences tramping around Britain. 10 songs, including one using cant, The Hawick Common Riding Song, some ballads and various other types of Scots song.

1. COME A' YE TRAMPS AND HAWKERS - 2'47"

2. Talk: The tinkers and their language - 1'19"

3. Cant Song: THE NEXT PUDDEN KEN (or LODGING HOUSE) - 1'08"

4. Talk: explanation of cant in previous song - 4'01"

5. Talk: places he has travelled - 0'24"

6. THE MOSS O' BURRELDALE - 3'55"

7. Talk about his family incl Shakespeare - 1'37"

8. More talk about family, father & travels - 3'12"

9. Talk about travelling with a red-haired girl, a man & visiting the Channel Islands - 8'26"

10. THE MUCKIN' O' GEORDIE'S BYRE with chorus - 2'40"

11. THE DOWIE DENS O' YARROW - 2'39"

12. Talk: with another traveller in Scotland, begging, camping & "chanting" - 11'48"

13. THE HAWICK COMMON RIDING SONG talk before - 0'40"

14. Talk: travelling with fellow singer, silver & a lodging house at Hawick - 1'48"

15. THE DAY WE WENT TO ROTHSAY-O - 0'31"

16. Talk and bawdy song: JOHN ANDERSON, MY JO, JOHN - 2'18"

17. Talk: peddling, smithing & harvesting - 1'45"

18. THE FORFAR SOLDIER - 2'41"

19. Talk: Army service, the herring fishing - 1'07"

20. DOWN BY THE MAGDALEN GREEN - 3'30"

Recorded 1951-3. Edited by Peter Kennedy and first published by Folktrax 1975.

JIMMY MacBEATH (1894-1972) was born at Portsoy, Banffshire, in 1894. At the age of 13 he was hired at Brandane's Fair to work on a farm in the parish of Deskford and received £4 for his first "haflin" and 5 guineas for the second half of the year. Although he tried his hand at many jobs, he was happiest as a beggar on the open road. In his later years, though previously a bit shy at singing in the streets, he became known as one of the last singers of "The Cornkisters" or "Bothy Ballads". He travelled much of Scotland, Ireland and England and also went to the Channel Islands and to Canada, and his Army Service took him to Egypt. During the sixties he performed at a number of folk clubs and festivals including the first National Folk Festival at Keele University.

Jimmy first became known to Hamish Henderson in the summer of 1951 and some of these recordings were made in July 1951. Two years later he was invited to London to take part in David Attenborough's "Ballad Hunter" series on TV at Alexandra Palace, when further recordings were made by Peter Kennedy. Further information about him can be found in TOCHER No. 12 (1973) - See also FT-059 & FT-060.