FTX-059 - JIM THE CARTER LAD
JIMMY McBEATH -2-
Continued documentary of a man of the open road: storyteller, ballad-singer
and descendant of Shakespeare's hero. This 2nd part of his documentary
includes talk about song- making, the Unions, horse-breaking, the initiation
rites of "The Horseman's Word", farm seduction, living conditions, food
and drink, hiring fairs, horse-markets, "cornkisters", Rascal Fair, litigation,
beatings etc. 8 songs provide examples of the Bothy Ballads, sung by
the men hired to live in temporary dwellings.
1. Song: JIM THE CARTER LAD - 0'47"
2. Talk about song-making - 2'34"
3. Song: NEEPS TAE PLUCK (comp by George Morris) - 2'38"
4. Talk about Unions, agreements, horse-breaking and "The Word" - 5'13"
5. Song: COME ALL YE LONELY LOVERS (or MY DARLING PLOUGHMAN BOY) - 1'53"
6. Talk about farm seductions - 5'10"
7. Song: BOGIE'S BONNY BELLE - 2'33"
8. Talk about living conditions, food & drink etc - 2'53"
9. Song: DRUMDELGIE - 3'25"
10. Song: MORMOND BRAES - 2'03"
11. Talk about hiring fairs, horse-markets, "cornkisters" - 3'08"
12. Song: THE AULD QUARRY KNOWES - 3'41"
13. Talk about conditions, morals, Rascal Fair, litigation, beatings - 8'26"
14. Song: THE BARNYARDS O' DELGATY (or TURRA MARKET) - 2'40"
Recorded 1951-3. Edited by Peter Kennedy and first published on Folktrax Cassettes
1975.
JIMMY McBEATH (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 o4 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 - FTX-058 & FTX-060.
