The Linplum Windings

[nigelgatherer]

THE LINPLUM WINDINGS

Many years ago I was given a tape recording of an informal singing party. Most of the songs were of the "Tiny Bubbles" variety, but one fragment of a song stood out, "The Linplum Windings". I tried to track down the singer, Dod Hay, and I got close enough to be told that he would meet me, and that he could remember the remaining verses. However he was unwell at the time (and rather aged), and he died before I could speak to him.

Dod Hay worked on East Lothian (near Edinburgh, Scotland) farms all his life, and the song appears to be very much a local song. I spoke to another East Lothian man who said his grandfather also sang the song as a young man, but had forgotten most of it (the grandson also told me he'd met a local lady who knew some of the characters in the song).

All of this is a little frustrating, as it looks as though this fragment may be all that is left of an interesting local song. If anyone knows differently, I'd be delighted to hear about it.

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THE LINPLUM WINDINGS

1. Come all ye fine fellows, I pray you give ear
I pray you look twice before ye leap once
For there's mony a chap has been caught in a snare
Wi' takin a loup before he was shair, laddie,
Singing fol de lol lay, laddie, fol lol lay.

2. Aye, I'll warn ye all, the time's drawin nigh,
Dinna hire tae yon Red Raw they ca' Linkylee
For depend if ye do, yer sorrows will come
If ye hire tae auld Hall, the auld grieve o' Linplum, laddie,
Singing fol de lol lay, laddie, fol lol lay.

3. Aye I ken o' a chap, an a gie Hielan chiel,
That wis yince sent tae feer that very same field,
An the big Johnnie, he bubbled and grat,
When his ploo widna work and his horse took the sprat, laddie,
Singing fol de lol lay, laddie, fol lol lay.

4. That lad be cam hame wi' a tear in his ee
Said nae mair will ah feer that field o' Auld Lee
Of all the places that ever I've seen
The windings beat a' that ever I've seen, laddie
Singing fol de lol lay, laddie, fol lol lay.

5. Well I think a' aboot plooin' I've said very weel
I'll tell ye noo somethin concerning our mill
If gaun tae thresh auld Puff gies a shout
Every yin tae their places and tak turn aboot, laddie,
Singing fol de lol lay, laddie, fol lol lay.

6. Aye there's twa yokin cairts, the stack for tae drive
There's twa in the laft the sheaves tae untie
And if the orraman the sheaves disna get
He turns on the weemin like a bull in a fit, laddie
Singing fol de lol lay, laddie, fol lol lay.
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Sung by Dod Hay. The farm of Linkylee, the homefarm of the Linplum estate, lies between Gifford Morham and Garvald.
loup = leap
shair = sure
yince = once
feer = a ploughing term
grat = cried
sprat = unclear
windings = a ploughing term (the windings went out and the 'happens' went in until the field was complete)

[Jack Campin]

I've heard of that song before, though never heard or seen a version, and obviously I haven't heard your tape. So there must be other versions around somewhere.

It looks like the sort of song that never had a definitive form - it would change any time there was somebody new to sing about.