Vision for the Future

Posted on by Dr Karen E McAulay

Friends, a word of explanation. An eye problem had to be sorted out.  (Some pharmaceutical company somewhere had a sense of humour, calling their eyedrops a compound name beginning with ‘Cyclop’ ….)

So, whilst I convalesce, I have the use of one good eye.  I can type a few lines quite comfortably, but I realised yesterday that sitting at my laptop for any longer, only strains the good eye.  (I tried to set up a new spreadsheet – but I won’t try that again this month: I just got myself a headache which lasted much of today.)

Frustrating as it is, I can’t do anything research-related for a few weeks. I have new headphones and a new Audible subscription to help pass the time. 

I recommend Poor Things, by Alasdair Gray – a great discovery. There’s a film out now, too, but I don’t thinking I’ll be watching anything on the big screen in the immediate future.  (Ironically, the title –  which reminded me of an early 20th century London charitable organisation that I encountered in my research a year or so ago – has nothing whatsoever to do with that organisation, but I had worked that out before I bought the Audible book.)  I loved the fact that much of it is set in Glasgow, and also the way the reader’s expectations are confounded at the end.

I’m on a third book now.  After that, maybe I’ll see if I can find Walter Scott or James Hogg …

‘Reading’ a commercial audio book is wholly absorbing, but it makes me realise how hard it must be for a partially-sighted reader to skim a book. A recording is linear – there is no ‘Find’ function as in an e-text, and neither can you flick through,  hoping to find something you spotted first time round.  If chapter headings are meaningful, at least that gives the reader an indication of the book’s structure.

I wanted to post an explanation as to why there will be less activity on this blog in February, so there it is.  I’m taking care of my sight, as an investment for the future. Watch this space!

Image by …♡… from Pixabay

Most Memorable Scottish Songs Today (Library Perspective!)

Posted on by Dr Karen E McAulay

Preparing for my Good Morning Scotland interview the other day, as I mentioned, I drew up something halfway between a mind-map and a spreadsheet to clarify in my mind how old the songs were, and who they were associated with. I had also – ever the librarian – looked up which of the Whittaker Library songbooks actually contained the songs in question. I wasn’t looking for every copy we had, just a rough overview. I thought you might be interested to see what our library patrons have access to. 

It is significant that there are only two genuinely old songs – the last two, by Sir Walter Scott and Robert Burns. Otherwise, they’re popular songs that are Scottish, but folksongs? Not exactly traditional or old, but certainly much beloved today. So, will there still be popular songs in fifty years’ time? Yes, of course – but maybe they haven’t even been written yet! 

Here is the list – in order of popularity – that Visit Scotland compiled from their recent survey:-

The Singing Kettle, book 2
  1. You cannae shove yer grannie aff a bus – it’s in Cilla Fisher and Artie Tresize’s second Singing Kettle music book (1989). Also in Ewan McVicar’s One Singer, one Song (1990) and his Scottish Songs for Younger Children (a words-only book, 2002); and in Traditional Folksongs and Ballads of Scotland Vol.3 (1994).
  2. Donald, where’s your Troosers? Sung by Calum Kennedy and published by our friends Mozart Allan in 1959, and by Andy Stewart, published by Kerr’s in 1960. We listened to Andy’s rendition at home last night – and it still makes us laugh.
  3. Coulter’s Candy – (hint: it’s pronounced ‘Cooters’) in Singing Kettle [book 1]; Katherine Campbell and Ewan McVicar’s Traditional Scottish Songs and Music (St Andrews: Leckie & Leckie, 2001); and Ewan McVicar’s Scottish Songs for Younger Children.
  4. Wee Willie Winkie – I know it, and we have it in the library, but not in the version I know!
  5. Skinny Malinky – in Wilma Paterson and Alasdair Gray’s Songs of Scotland (1996)
  6. Three Craws – in the second Singing Kettle book; and Jimmie McGregor’s Singing our Own (1970)
  7. The Jeely Piece Song – the library has Adam McNaughtan’s CD, The Words that I used to know (Greentrax, 2000). It’s also known as The Skyscraper Wean and can be found in Morag Henriksen and Barrie Carson Turner’s Sing Around Scotland (1985).
  8. Bonnie wee Jeannie McColl – first sung by Will Fyffe in 1929, and more recently by the Alexander Brothers, it appears in 100 Great Scottish Songs (Dublin: Soodlum,1986)
  9. An oldie: Walter Scott’s, Scots wha’ ha’e – it’s in many, many collections! I found it in Traditional Folksongs and Ballads of Scotland Vol.3; and Wilma Paterson’s Songs of Scotland.
  10. Another oldie; Robert Burns’s My heart’s in the Highlands. People probably know the version sung by Karine Polwart in 2001, and Fara in 2014. There are much earlier versions in printed books, of course, but I suspect not what today’s enthusiasts are looking for!

This is a YouTube link to Karine Polwart’s, ‘My heart’s in the Highlands.

Wilma Paterson’s Songs of Scotland, illustrated by Alasdair Gray
Traditional Folksongs & Ballads of Scotland Vol.3