When I Was a Little Boy Strikin' at the Studdy

DESCRIPTION: "When I was a little boy, strikin' at the studdy [smithy], I had a pair o' blue breeks, and oh but they were duddie [tattered]! As I strook, they shook, like a lammie's tailie; But noo I'm grown a gentleman, my wife she wears a railie"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1828 (Lyle-Andrew-CrawfurdsCollectionVolume2)
KEYWORDS: clothes nonballad money work
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber,Bord))
REFERENCES (5 citations):
Greig/Duncan8 1688, "When I Was a Young Man I Chappit at the Studdy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lyle-Andrew-CrawfurdsCollectionVolume2 128, "Quhan I Was a Wee Callan" (1 text)
ADDITIONAL: Robert Chambers, The Popular Rhymes of Scotland (Edinburgh, 1826 ("Digitized by Google")), p. 297, ("When I was a little boy, strikin' at the studdy")
Robert Chambers, The Popular Rhymes of Scotland (Edinburgh, 1870 ("Digitized by Google")), p. 155, ("When I was a little boy, striking at the studdy") (1 text)
Robert Chambers (Edited by Norah and William Montgomerie), Traditional Scottish Nursery Rhymes (1990 selected from Popular Rhymes) #152, p. 87, ("When I was a wee boy, Strikin at the studdy")
Roud #13033
NOTES [223 words]: The description is Chambers's text. I don't know what a "railie" is, but seems likely to refer to an early 19th century fashion [see, for example, Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language Unabridged, 1976: "rail ... n ... 1 archaic: a loose garment worn in varying style esp by women since the early medieval period 2 obs: a neckercheif for women" See "night rail ... a woman's loose robe or gown formerly worn as a nightgown or dressing gown" from the same source]. Greig/Duncan8 ends with the singer "grown a grandpa, my wife she wears a veillie." - BS
Alexander Warrack, The Scots Dialext Dictionary, Waverly Books, 2000, defines "railie/railly" as a woman's jacket, although it does not describe the style. - RBW
Chambers: "... familiar to the boys in every province of Scotland.... It is supposed to bear reference to the founder of the family of Callender of Craigforth, near Stirling, who originally was a blacksmith. John Callender performed work on Edinburgh and Stirling Castles before the Revolution." In 1689 he was ordered paid a large amount in Scots money but "[a]ccording to the popular story, the ingenious blacksmith got payment of this sum from the English exchequer, but in the English denomination, a piece of good fortune which enabled him to become proprietor of Craigforth ...." - BS
Last updated in version 6.2
File: GrD81688

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