Glen Collection of printed music > Printed text > Songs of Scotland prior to Burns

cried like to mang, A - las, for the drea - ry
i
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gin - nin' o't !
There was an auld wife had a wee pickle tow,
And she wad gae try the spinnin' o't ;
She louted her doun, and her rock took a-low,
And that was a had beginnin' o't.
She sat and she grat, and she flat and she flang,
And she threw and she blew, and she wriggled and wrang,
And she chokit and boakit, and cried like to mang,
Alas, for the dreary beginnin' o't !
I 've wanted a sark for these aught-years-and-ten,
And this was to be the beginnin' o't ;
But I vow I shall want it for as lang again,
Or ever I try the spinnin' o't.
For never since ever they ca'd as they ca' me,
Did sic a mishap and mischanter befa' me ;
But ye shall hae leave baith to hang and to draw me,
The neist time I try the spinnin' o't.
I hae keepit my house now these threescore o' years,
And aye I kept frae the spinnin' o't ;
But how I was sarkit, foul fa' them that speirs,
For it minds me upo' the beginnin' o't.
But our women are now-a-days a' grown sae braw,
That ilk ane maun hae a sark, and some hae twa —
The warlds were better where ne'er ane ava
Had a rag, but ane at the beginnin' o't.