Susannes
Folksong-Notizen
[1958:] Probably the best known and loved of all
bothy ballads - with a good rousing chorus. Like
all of them marked by a good stubborn attitude to
hard conditions - hard soil or hard-handed
employers - and a couthy sense of humour. (Norman
Buchan, Weekly Scotsman, July 17) [1963:]
Known also as Turra Market or Linton Addie. I
wish I had a shilling for every new recruit to
folk song whose first chorus song this was. One
of the best known bothy ballads, it was the
opening number for months at Ewan MacColl's
Ballads and Blues club - one of the first three
clubs of the revival. (Eric Winter, notes 'Alex
Campbell Sings Folk') [1967:] Ewan MacColl writes of this zestful
Scottish song: "It was the custom in
northeast Scotland for a ploughman to be hired by
the season at seasonal hiring fairs. During their
period of service, the ploughmen slept in sheds
(bothies) usually situated some distance from the
main farm building. When the day's work was done
and the evening meal finished, the ploughmen
would often amuse themselves by singing and
making up songs. In this way, an enormous
repertoire of bothy songs was created. The
Barnyards of Delgaty is a perfect example of the
species." (Reprint Sing Out 10, 216) [1971:] Unmarried farm servants were hired for
a six-month term at the feeing fairs, of which
Porter Fair - the Turriff [Turra] feeing market -
was by far the biggest in Aberdeenshire. The
little town used to be crowded to overflowing,
two or three thousand people jam-packed right up
the High Street to the Square; "ye could
have walked on their heids", as Jimmy
MacBeath once described it. A lad looking for a
place usually wore a plait of straw in his
button-hole, or pinned to the side of his bonnet.
This he removed when he had agreed with his new
employer. [...] When a man had accepted an offer,
he was given a shilling as "arles" -
and, the shilling accepted, he was in duty bound
to report to his new master. Before he did so
he'd likely patronise one or other of the booths
and stalls set up along the main street and have
a dram or two, while listening to the cheapjacks
crying their wares, the revivalist preachers
promising all and sundry a liberal dose of fire
and brimstone, or pipers and fiddlers giving of
their best. (Hamish Henderson, notes 'Bothy
Ballads') [1973:] [The Barnyards of Delgaty] merges in
certain versions with Jock o' Rhynie which in
turn is related to In Praise of Huntly. The
generic nature of the experiences described
fostered this kind of coalescence. (David Buchan,
Ballads 224) [1985:] Snotters - Scots for snot [but] often
used in a wider sense to mean in any way
displeasing or contemptible. (Munro, Patter, 64) [1995:] We left this song alone for 30 years
and were asked to sing it at a recent Danish
festival concert about the life and times of the
late Alex Campbell. We chose some songs that he
had "made his own" and Barnyards was
one of them. It's from the north-east of Scotland
and like so many of the songs from there it
derides the farm owner and names names. The
courts must have been full of slander suits where
witnesses had to sing the case for the
prosecution. (Notes McCalmans, 'Festival Lights')
[2002:] The OED gives, as the earliest meaning of "snot", "The snuff of a candle; the burnt part of a candle wick. Now north[ern] dial[ect]"
(Mudcat.org: Barnyards o' Delgaty)
http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=9515&messages=5
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Susannes
Folksong-Notizen English Notes 
