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.
________________________________________________________
(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