The Ball of Kirriemuir

Last updated

"The Ball of Kirriemuir" (occasionally Kerrymuir and other variants), sometimes known as "The Gathering of the Clans" or "Four-and-Twenty Virgins", is a traditional song of Scottish origin. It is Roud Folk Song Index no. 4828. [1] It consists of quatrains in which the second and fourth lines rhyme, alternating with a chorus. The words, and the number of verses (of which there are many), vary between versions, but all are strikingly bawdy. It purports to recount the goings-on at a dance party in Kirriemuir, Angus, Scotland which turned into an orgy. In many versions, there are visitors from as far away as Aviemore and Inverness in the Scottish Highlands.

Contents

The general view is that the song originated sometime around the 1880s, and is loosely based on an actual event. The tale runs, that all the men were wearing kilts, and that few women in those days wore underwear and those that were worn had an open crotch. Someone sprinkled rose hip seeds on the floor (from where they were caught up into the air as the dancing began), spiked the punch bowl with Spanish fly, and rigged the paraffin lamps to go out when the double effect of the itching powder and the aphrodisiac took hold. [2]

Suggestions that some of the words can be attributed to Robert Burns (Scotland's national poet) or that T. S. Eliot made use of them have been refuted. [2] [3] [4]

The following, in Scots, is representative of the less extreme verses: [5]

'Twas on the first of August,
The party, it began,
Noo, ne'er shall I forget, me lads,
The gatherin' o' the clans.

[Chorus] Wha'll dae ye, lassie,
Wha'll dae ye noo?
The mon wha did ye last nicht,
Cannae dae ye noo.

Four and twenty virgins,
Cam doon frae Inverness,
And when the ball was over,
There were four and twenty less.

There was screwin' in the parlour,
An' screwin' on the stones,
Ye couldnae hear the music,
For the wheezin' and the groans.

And when the ball was over,
The opinion was expressed,
The music was exquisite, but
The screwin' was the best.

The earliest known recording is by Mikeen McCarthy, an Irish Traveller, from about 1938. [3] [6] The song has been recorded commercially by (among others) Kenneth McKellar, [7] Oscar Brand, [8] Jim Croce [9] and Aidan Moffat. [10] It has spread to Australia, Canada, England, Ireland, New Zealand and USA. [2] [3] There is an anecdote that British troops of the 8th Army sang it while passing in review before Winston Churchill in February 1943 at Tripoli, Libya, after their victory in the Second Battle of El Alamein; upon recognising the words, Churchill broke into a broad grin. [11] The 51st (Highland) Division sang it as they crossed the River Rhine in March 1945, near the end of World War II, as part of Operation Plunder; despite the Chaplain's attempts to get them to sing "Onward, Christian Soldiers" and the band's playing "Scotland the Brave". [3] Denis Healey, long-serving British MP and Deputy Leader of the Labour Party, could sing the song in Latin. [12]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ribaldry</span> Off-color humor

Ribaldry or blue comedy is humorous entertainment that ranges from bordering on indelicacy to indecency. Blue comedy is also referred to as "bawdiness" or being "bawdy". Like any humour, ribaldry may be read as conventional or subversive. Ribaldry typically depends on a shared background of sexual conventions and values, and its comedy generally depends on seeing those conventions broken.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kirriemuir</span> Town in Angus, Scotland

Kirriemuir, sometimes called Kirrie or the Wee Red Toon, is a burgh in Angus, Scotland. It reaches back to earliest recorded times, when it is thought to have been a major ecclesiastical centre. Later it was identified with witchcraft; some older houses still feature a "witches stane" to ward off evil. In the 19th century, it was a major centre of the jute trade.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Auld Lang Syne</span> Robert Burns poem set to traditional melody

"Auld Lang Syne" is a popular Scottish song, particularly in the English-speaking world. Traditionally, it is sung to bid farewell to the old year at the stroke of midnight on New Year's Eve/Hogmanay. By extension, it is also often heard at funerals, graduations, and as a farewell or ending to other occasions; for instance, many branches of the Scouting movement use it to close jamborees and other functions.

John Grant Robertson is a Scottish professional football coach and former player, who is currently the sporting director of Inverness Caledonian Thistle. His playing career included spells at Newcastle United, Dundee and Livingston, but he is best known for his two spells at Heart of Midlothian totalling about 18 years, where he is the club's all-time leading goalscorer. He has since managed Inverness Caledonian Thistle, Heart of Midlothian, Ross County, Livingston, Derry City and East Fife.

Arab Strap are a Scottish indie rock band whose core members are Aidan Moffat and Malcolm Middleton. The band were signed to independent record label Chemikal Underground, split in 2006 and reformed in 2016. The band signed to Rock Action Records in 2020.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carolina Nairne</span>

Carolina Oliphant, Lady Nairne – also known as Carolina Baroness Nairn in the peerage of Scotland and Baroness Keith in that of the United Kingdom – was a Scottish songwriter. Many of her songs, such as, "Will ye no' come back again?", "Charlie is my Darling", "The Rowan Tree" and "Wi' a Hundred Pipers' remain popular today, almost two hundred years after they were written. One of her songs, "Caller Herrin'", was sung at the 2021 commemoration of the 1881 Eyemouth disaster. She usually set her words to traditional Scottish folk melodies, but sometimes contributed her own music.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Violet Jacob</span> Scottish writer, 1863–1946

Violet Jacob was a Scottish writer known especially for her historical novel Flemington and for her poetry, mainly in Scots. She was described by a fellow Scottish poet Hugh MacDiarmid as "the most considerable of contemporary vernacular poets".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Gnu</span> Humorous song by Flanders and Swann

"The Gnu" is a humorous song about a talking gnu by Flanders and Swann.

<i>Mogwai Young Team</i> 1997 studio album by Mogwai

Mogwai Young Team is the debut studio album by Scottish post-rock band Mogwai. Produced by Paul Savage and Andy Miller, the album was released on 21 October 1997 through the Chemikal Underground record label.

John Strachan (1875–1958) was a Scottish farmer and Traditional singer of Bothy Ballads including several old and influential versions of the famous Child Ballads. He had a huge repertoire of traditional songs, and was recorded by the likes of James Madison Carpenter, Alan Lomax and Hamish Henderson.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hungry Heart</span> 1980 single by Bruce Springsteen

"Hungry Heart" is a rock song written and performed by Bruce Springsteen on his fifth album, The River. It was released as the album's lead single in 1980 and became Springsteen's first big hit on the Billboard Hot 100 chart peaking at number five.

<i>Stoneground Words</i> 1972 studio album by Melanie

Stoneground Words is an album released by Melanie in 1972. It contains the singles "Together Alone" and "Do You Believe".

"Coulter's Candy", also known as "Ally Bally" or "Ally Bally Bee, is a Scots folk song.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">You Don't Mess Around with Jim (song)</span> 1972 single by Jim Croce

"You Don't Mess Around with Jim" is a 1972 strophic story song by Jim Croce from his album of the same name. It was Croce's debut single, released on ABC Records as ABC-11328. ABC Records promotion man Marty Kupps took it to KHJ 930 AM in Los Angeles, CA where it first aired. It made the KHJ "30" chart that week of June 6, 1972. After spending 11 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, the song peaked at No. 8 the week ending September 9. Croce performed the song on American Bandstand on August 12, 1972. Billboard ranked it as the No. 68 song for 1972.

"Bonnie Charlie", also commonly known as "Will ye no come back again?", is a Scots poem by Carolina Oliphant, set to a traditional Scottish folk tune. As in several of the author's poems, its theme is the aftermath of the Jacobite Rising of 1745, which ended at the Battle of Culloden. Written well after the events it commemorates, it is not a genuine Jacobite song, like many other songs that were "composed in the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, but ... passed off as contemporary products of the Jacobite risings."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Caledonian Locomotives F.C.</span> Association football club in East Dunbartonshire, Scotland, UK

Caledonian Locomotives Football Club are a Scottish football club based in the north of Glasgow at Petershill Park, Springburn, and currently playing in the West of Scotland League Second Division.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rock and Roll Heaven</span> 1973 song co-written by Alan ODay

"Rock and Roll Heaven" is a song written by Alan O'Day and Johnny Stevenson, popularized by The Righteous Brothers. It is a paean to several deceased singers such as Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, and Otis Redding, and has been rewritten a number of times to include other singers. The song was first recorded by the band Climax in 1973, but it failed to chart. It was then covered by The Righteous Brothers in 1974 and reached number three on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">RM Hubbert</span> Scottish guitarist and singer

RM Hubbert, commonly known as Hubby, is a Scottish guitarist and singer. Best known for his solo work as RM Hubbert and as a member of Scottish post rock band El Hombre Trajeado, he has been an active member of the Glaswegian DIY music scene since 1991.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ryan Christie</span> Scottish footballer (born 1995)

Ryan Christie is a Scottish professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder or winger for Premier League club Bournemouth and the Scotland national team.

<i>Cheat on Me If You Can</i> 2020 South Korean comedy mystery TV series

Cheat on Me If You Can is a South Korean television series starring Cho Yeo-jeong, Go Jun, Yeonwoo, Kim Young-dae and Kim Ye-won. The series directed by Kim Hyung-seok and written by Lee Seong-min follows an unconventional and intense story about Kang Yeo-joo, a novelist who wrote a memorandum to her husband Han Woo-sung, a divorce lawyer, stating, "If You Cheat, You Die". It aired on KBS2 from December 2, 2020 to January 28, 2021 on Wednesdays and Thursdays at 21:30 (KST).

References

  1. ↑ "The Ball of Kirriemuir". Vaughan Williams Memorial Library . Retrieved 8 November 2021.
  2. 1 2 3 Cray, Ed (1992). "The Ball of Kirriemuir". The Erotic Muse: American Bawdy Songs. University of Illinois Press. pp. 95–101. ISBN   978-0252017810.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Waltz, Robert B.; Engle, David G. "Ball of Kirriemuir, The". California State University, Fresno . Retrieved 28 October 2021.
  4. ↑ Chinitz, David (1999–2000). "T.S. Eliot's Blue Verses and Their Sources in the Folk Tradition". Journal of Modern Literature . 23 (2). Indiana University Press: 329–333. doi:10.1353/jml.1999.0002. S2CID   162069917 . Retrieved 28 October 2021.
  5. ↑ "The Ball o' Kirriemuir". ingeb.org. Retrieved 27 October 2021. 39 verses, in Scots.
  6. ↑ PJS. "The Ball of Kirriemuir". folklorist.org. Retrieved 28 October 2021.
  7. ↑ McKellar, Kenneth (1965). "The Ball of Kirriemuir". Songs Of The British Isles. Decca LK 4710.
  8. ↑ Brand, Oscar (1971). "The Ball Of Kerriemuir". X. Roulette Records 9045-42060.
  9. ↑ Croce, Jim (1973). "Ball of Kirriemuir". Jim Croce Live: The Final Tour . Saja Records 91326-2 (published 1989).
  10. ↑ Moffat, Aidan (2016). "The Ball of Kirriemuir". Where You're Meant to Be. Kiss My Beard Productions KMB004.
  11. ↑ Coleman, Keith (27 November 2016). "The Whit? Kirriemuir's 'Ball' (With Knobs On)". angusfolklore.blogspot.com. Retrieved 28 October 2021.Coleman, Keith (10 May 2021). "Return to the Ball of Kirriemuir". angusfolklore.blogspot.com. Retrieved 28 October 2021.
  12. ↑ Smith, Mark (4 October 2015). "Denis Healey". The Herald . Retrieved 28 October 2021.

Further reading

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.