winterbadger | (no subject)

So, one of the things that I'd like to engage in one day in munro-bagging.

But I thought of a variant the other day that will serve as a stop-gap.

One of the great old standards of the folk revival is the song 'Tramps and Hawkers'. It's evocative of the roving life of a tramp, and it lists a large number of places, to show how widely traveled the speaker is.

There are different versions (two, really, with variations), but here's mine (with thanks to Old Blind Dogs). Places in bold are places I've seen or been to; place in italics are ones I have yet to visit...

Tramps And Hawkers

Chorus:
Come, a' ye tramps and hawker lads and gaitherers o' blaw
That tramps this country roun' and roun', come listen ane and a'
I'll tell tae ye a rovin' tale and sichts that I hae seen
Far up intae the snowy north and sooth by Gretna Green

I've seen the high Ben Nevis a-towerin' tae the moon
I've been by Crieff and Callander and roun' by Bonny Doon
And by the Nethy's silvery tides and places ill tae ken
Far up intae the snowy north lies Urquhart's bonnie glen

(Chorus)

Oft hae I laughed intae myself when trudgin' on the road
Wi' a bag o' bla' upon by back, my face as brown's a toad
Wi' lumps o' cakes and tattie scones and cheese and braxie ham
Nae thinking where I'm comin' frae or where I'm goin' tae gang

I'm happy in the summer time beneath the bricht blue sky
Nae thinkin' in the mornin' at nicht where I'm to lie
Barns or byres or anywhere, or oot among the hay
And if the weather does permit, I'm happy every day

(Chorus)

I've done my share of humpin' wi' the dockers on the Clyde
I've helped the Buckie trawlers pu' the herrin' o'er the side
I helped to build the mighty brig that spans the Firth o' Forth
And wi' mony Angus farmer's rig I plowed the bonny earth

Loch Katrine and Loch Lomond have a' been kent by me
The Dee, the Don, the Deveron that rushes tae the sea
Dunrobin Castle by the way, I nearly hae forgot
And aye, the rickle o' cairn marks at the house o' John o' Groats

(Chorus)

I'm often doon by Gallowa' and 'roon about Stranraer
My business taks me onywhere, I travel near and far
I've got a rovin' notion, there's nothing that I lack
And a' my days my daily fare and what'll pay my lack

I think I'll go to Paddy's land, I'm makkin' up my mind
For Scotland's greatly altered now, I canna raise the wind
But I will trust in Providence, if Providence proves true
And I will sing o' Erin's isle 'ere I get back to you

(Chorus)