Charlie, O Charlie (Pitgair)

DESCRIPTION: The farm owner prepares for a trip, instructing Charlie in how to run the farm in his absence, e.g. "To the loosin' ye'll put Shaw, Ye'll pit Sandison to ca'." He gives orders to the workers also, including Missy Pope, who will "sit in the parlor neuk."
AUTHOR: "Mr. Shaw" (source: Greig-FolkSongInBuchan-FolkSongOfTheNorthEast #51, p. 2 and #102, p. 3)
EARLIEST DATE: 1905 (Greig-FolkSongInBuchan-FolkSongOfTheNorthEast)
KEYWORDS: farming travel humorous
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Greig-FolkSongInBuchan-FolkSongOfTheNorthEast #51, pp. 1-2, "O Charlie, O Charlie"; "Folk-Song in Buchan," pp. 74-75, "Pitgair"; "Folk-Song in Buchan," p. 21, ("Charlie, O Charlie, come owre frae Pitgair") (2 texts plus 1 fragment, 1 tune)
Greig/Duncan3 401, "Pitgair" (7 texts, 6 tunes)
Ord-BothySongsAndBallads, p. 216-217, "Oh Charlie, O Charlie" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #2584
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Binorie" (tune, per Greig/Duncan3)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Come O'er frae Pitgair
NOTES [131 words]: The best-known recording of this is probably Ewan MacColl's, on "Popular Scottish Songs," learned from John Mearns of Fyvie. MacColl speaks of the "thread of tender irony which runs through it," but ironically, MacColl failed completely to understand the song. It is line-by-line parallel to Ord-BothySongsAndBallads's text, but what MacColl sings (or, at least, what is transcribed in the Folkways booklet) is frequently nonsense -- though Ord's transcription makes clear sense. - RBW
Greig/Duncan3: "August 1906. Learned at Northfield of Gamrie, 1869."
Greig/Duncan3 has a map on p. xxxv, of "places mentioned in songs in volume 3" showing the song number as well as place name; Pitgair (401) is at coordinate (h6,v7-8) on that map [near Banff, roughly 35 miles NNW of Aberdeen]. - BS
Last updated in version 2.6
File: Ord216

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