At a relic aul' croft upon the hill,
Roon the neuk frae Sprottie's mill,
Tryin' a' his life tae jine the kill
Lived Geordie MacIntyre.
He had a wife as sweir's himsel'
An' a daughter as black's Auld Nick himsel'.
There wis some fun - haud awa' the smell-
At the muckin' o' Geordie's byre.
Chorus:
For the graip was tint, the besom was deen,
The barra widna row its leen,
An'siccan a soss it never was seen
At the muckin' o' Geordie's byre.
For the daughter had to strae and neep
The auld wife started to swipe the greep
When Geordie fell sklite on a rotten neep
At the muckin' o' Geordie's byre.
Ben the greep cam' Geordie's soo
She stood up ahint the coo
The coo kickit oot an' o whit a stew
At the muckin' o' Geordie's byre. (Chorus)
For the aul' wife she was booin' doon -
The soo was kickit on the croon
It shoved her heid in the wifie's goon
Then ben through Geordie's byre.
The daughter cam thro the barn door
An' seein' her mother let oot a roar,
To the midden she ran an' fell ower the boar
At the muckin' of Geordie's byre. (Chorus)
For the boar he lap the midden dyke
An' ower the riggs wi' Geordie's tyke.
They baith ran intil a bumbee's byke
At the muckin' o' Geordie's byre.
The cocks an' hens began to craw
When Biddy astride the soo they saw
The postie's shelty ran awa'
At the muckin' o' Geordie's byre. (Chorus)
O a hunder' years are passed an mair
Whaur Sprottie's wis, the hill is bare;
The croft's awa', sae ye'll see nae mair
At the muckin' o' Geordie's byre.
His folks a' deid an' awa' lang syne
In case his memory we should tyne,
Whistle this tune tae keep ye in min'
At the muckin' o' Geordie's byre. (Chorus)
Notes
Bothy Ballads
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Bothies were out-houses built of stone where unmarried farm labourers lived. The men would gather in towns waiting for a farmer to come along and hire them. The wages were poor and the diet was monotonous oatmeal. But the bothie was home for the time they worked on the farm. The building consisted of two rooms, one a dormitory for sleeping and the other the room where they ate and spent their evenings. On cold nights when there was nothing to do but go to bed, the men would have sing-songs to pass the time. Many of the bothy ballads were created during this time, some shared from the past, some re-made and new ones improvised.
Burns wrote a few of these himself.
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Translation
The chorus means:
For the fork was lost, the broom was done for
The barrow wouldn't roll its load along
And such a mess it never was seen
At the cleaning of Geordie's cowhouse.
Can anyone help with 'jine the kill'? 'Jine' should be 'join', but 'kill' only seems to mean 'kiln', or a wooden frame for building ricks on. It ought to mean lazy in some way, as Geordie's wife is described as 'sweir's himsel' (lazy as himself).
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