Lyr Req: The tinkers wedding

Subject: Lyr Req: The tinkers wedding
From: GUEST,ossonflags
Date: 01 Oct 02 - 02:36 PM

has anyone got the words to this song? The tune is "the day we went to rothsay o"

The cHuorus is "deri me do me derime day - derime do me daddy o -deri me do me deri me day - hurrah for the tinkers wedding o" I remember the late great Ian (Jock) Manual singing this.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The tinkers wedding
From: MMario
Date: 01 Oct 02 - 02:42 PM

click me

evidenlty "A" tune for it is "rothsey-o"

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The tinkers wedding
From: GUEST,Boab
Date: 02 Oct 02 - 03:31 AM

If you have any way of communicating with Pete Coe of "the Living Tradition" Mag., he would help---he used to sing it fairly often.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The tinkers wedding
From: GUEST,Boab
Date: 02 Oct 02 - 03:47 AM

oops!---I think that should be Heather's man---Pete Heywood!?!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The tinkers wedding
From: GUEST
Date: 27 May 08 - 05:57 PM

There were herrin' heads an' bits o' bread
Herrin' heads an' haddies, o
Herrin' heads an' bits o' bread
To carry on the weddin' o

Drum-mer a -doo a- doo a day
drum-mer a -doo a- dad-din o
drum-mer a -doo a- doo a-day
hurrah for the tinklers weddin'o

they tramp it o'er the biallach way
biallach way, biallach way
and bracken was their beddin' o

we never dwell in but-an' ben
but-an' ben, but-an'ben
we never dwell in but-an ben
we camp where trees are spreedin' o

we tightened up the tent a wee
tighntened up, tightened up
tightened up the tent a wee
we'd bracken for our beddin' o

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The tinkers wedding
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 27 May 08 - 08:03 PM

Who did that come from?

This is an old, forgotten thread with little information in it. Better, I'd have thought, to revive another on the same topic which, though even older, does contain useful details; including the text of William Watt's original song.

Tinker's Wedding

MMario provided a link to it here earlier on this page (though that was more than five years ago).

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The tinkers wedding
From: GUEST
Date: 23 Oct 15 - 08:10 PM

from roy davie at

In the 1930's my paternal grandmother, ('Grannie Davie'), sang this song to me, then a seven-year- old.
The first verse went as follows -
There was a waddin' doon at Leith
maunie lads an' lassies at it!
Some had beef, some had bane,
Hurrah for the Tinker's Waddin O'

It is likely that my Grannie, (prior to being married,(Jane Anderson), learned this song from her parents. They were Gaelic speaking immigrants to mainland Scotland, and from Islay,settling in the Denny/Bonnybridge area.
The chorus sung by my grandmother was slightly different from that shown in the internet submission...it was as follows -
Duram, duram duram dae, duram dae ma daddy o'
Duram, duram duram dae, Hurrah for the Tinker's Waddin' O'.
I never heard my Grannie sing more than the words relayed above.
At 91 yrs, I remember with affection, hearing this folk-song from 'Grannie' !! RRD

Subject: Lyr Add: THE TINKER'S WEDDING
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 24 Oct 15 - 07:05 AM

An old broadside text
Jim Carroll

The Tinkers Wedding.

In June, when broom an' bloom was seen,
An' brackens waved fu' fresh an' green,
An' warm the sun wi' silver sheen,
The hills and glens did gladden, O.
Ae day, upon the border bent.
The tinkers pitched their gipsy tent,
An' auld an' yonng, wi' ne consent.
Resolved to have a weddin', O.

Diring do a do a dar,
Diring do a daddin', O,
Diring do a do a day.
Hurra! the tinker's wedding, O.

The bridegroom was a wild Norman Scot,
Wha' tbrice had broke the nuptial knot,
An' ance was sentenecd to be shot
For breach o' martial orders, O.
His gleeeome joe was Maadge M'Kell,
A spaewife- match for Nick himsel',
Wi' clamour, cantrip, charm and spell,
She frightit baith the borders, O.

Nae priest was there wi' solemn face;
Nae clerks to claim o' crowns a brace;
The piper an' fiddler playd the grace.
To set their gabs asteerin, O.
'Mang beef an' mutton, pork an' veal;
'Mang painshes, plucks an' fresh cow-heel
Fat haggises and caller jeel.
They clawt awa' careerin', O.

Fresh salmon newly ta'en in Tweed,
Saut ling an' cod o' Shetland breed,
They worried till kytes were like to screed.
'Mang flaggons and flasks o' gravy, O.
There were raisin kail and sweet milk saps,
An' ewe-milk cheese in whangs and flaps:
An* they roopit to gust their gabs an' craps.
Right mony a cadger's cavie, O.

The drink flew roun' in wild galore,
An soon upraised a hideous roar,
Blythe Comus ne'er a queerer core
Saw seated round his table, O. "
They drank, they danced, they swore, they sang
They quarrelled an' 'greed the hale day lang,
An' the wrangling that ran amang the thrang
Wad match the tongue o' Babel, O.

The drink gaed down before their drouth,
]That vexed baith mony a maw- an' mouth;
It damp'd the fire o' age an' youth,
An' every breast did sadden, O,
Till three stout loons flew o'er the fell,
At risk o' life their drouth to quell,
An' robbed a neighbouring smuggler's still.
To carry on the wedding, O.

Wi' thuadering shouts they hailed them back,
To broach the barrrels they werena slack.
While the fiddler's plane-tree leg they brak,
For playing fareweel to whisky.
Delirium seized the uproarious thrang,
The bagpipes in the fire they flang.
An' sowern' airns on the riggins rang,
The drink pllay'd siccan a plisky.

The sun fell laigh owre Solway's banks,
While on they plied their roughsome pranks.
An' the stalwart shadows o' their shanks,
Wide owre the mulr were spreading.
Till heads-an-thraws amang the whins,
They fell wi- broken brows an' shins,
An' sair-craist bane filled mony skins,
To close the tinker's wedding.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The tinkers wedding
From: MartinRyan
Date: 24 Oct 15 - 04:32 PM

Nice one, Jim! A few 'cribs" needed?!

Regards