{"id":6686,"date":"2020-11-08T17:32:53","date_gmt":"2020-11-08T17:32:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/?page_id=6686"},"modified":"2023-06-10T13:24:56","modified_gmt":"2023-06-10T13:24:56","slug":"gee-woah","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/index.php\/gee-woah\/","title":{"rendered":"Gee Woah"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
AKA<\/strong><\/td>My father had a farm<\/td><\/tr>
First Published<\/td>1887?<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Writer\/composer<\/td>Harry Linn<\/td>Roud<\/strong><\/td>RN32915<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Music Hall Performers<\/strong><\/td>Harry Linn<\/td><\/tr>
Folk performances<\/strong><\/td>Source Singers<\/strong>
Dass, John; Scotland : South Ronaldsay; 1974
Unknown; Scotland; 1976<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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My father had a farm, a pretty little farm \nHis farm stood beside the River Dee, \nHe said there was no charm, in life upon a farm, \nSo he left the little farm all to me. \nHe never seemed to care for the horses or the mares, \nSuch a very, very funny man was he; \nBut to work among the cows, the harrows and the ploughs, \nThat's the life that suited best for me.\n\nThe hens they sit and cackle on the old barn door, \nThe cocks they crow much louder than the ever crew before,\nThe little piggy wiggies are running to and fro, \nAnd the horses prance with pleasure when I cry Gee Woah.<\/em>\n\nMy hearts as light as a feather, I care not for the weather, \nIt matters not how chill the wind may blow, \nI'm happy in the springtime, I'm happy in the sunshine, \nI'm happy in the winter frost and snow, \nI love the early-morn down among the yellow corn, \nI'm jolly and I whistle as a roam, \nAnd while the men are mowing, the little cocks keep crowing, \nThey're glad because they see me coming home.\n\nThen when the work is over, with a glass of prime October \nWe sit beside the roaring kitchen fire; \nThe men are loudly singing, they keep the rafters ringing, \nA happier life there's no one could desire. \nThe funny little pigs, in the sty they run their rigs, \nThe sheep and lambs are safely in their pens,\nAnd the horses in the stable eat as much as they are able,\nTo roost have gone the little cocks and hens.\n<\/pre>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
In 1974 John Dass remembered a fragment of this song that he learnt on South Ronaldsay. You can hear him sing it on the rather wonderful Tobar an Dualchais Kist o Riches site<\/a>. It’s another example of Harry Linn<\/a> writing about an agricultural idyll….<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The chorus has also been collected in Scotland by Dr Emily Lyle, under the title And the Hens they sat and cackled<\/em>. This track is also available at the Tobar an Dulchais site<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Sources:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n