Folk and Traditional Song Lyrics:
Haddock to the Skate

Haddock to the Skate

Haddock to the Skate

     1.
     Quo' the haddock to the skate--
     Lunnon is a far gate;
     Quo' the haddock to the eel--
     Crook ye your tail weel.
     Dear bocht, dear saul',
     Keep a chip o' Drum's faul;
     Keep a chip o' Mair time;
     Keep a chip o' Ritchie's wine,
     A' the nowte o' Youmer tee--
     Jollie fykes.
     To the rumple, to my tykes,
     Kent ye John Young, John Auld?
     Sneerabuck, Snarabuck,
     Fillgabuck and Lenabo,
     Culterkill and Auchmagant,
     Little Wartle, Muckle Wartle,
     Fite Kirk o' Rayne--
     Awa to Fisherfew
     To see the boats come in.

     2.
     Said the haddock to the skate--
     Skip the creel, and shun the bait;
     Said the herrin' to the eel--
     Crook your little tail weel;
     Dear bocht, dear sauld,
     Seek a sheep frae Jock's fauld;
     Jock's fauld's very close,
     Tak' the tail frae Jock's horse.
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     (1) Greig FSNE xxii.2, ultimately from Strichen.
     (2) Rymour Club Misc. II (1912-19), 60 [in 4 lines], a
     counting-out rhyme from Mintlaw, Aberdeenshire; whence
     Montgomerie SC (1948), 64 (no. 77).  Cf. "The Dreg Song"
     etc.

MS