Jimmy McBeath - Johnny McIndoo

1: There wis Johnny MacAtee, McGhee an’ me And other two or three were on the spree one day We had a bob or two which we knew how to blew An’ the beer an’ whisky flew and we all feeled gay. 2: We visited McCann’s, Humphy Dan’s, Michael Mann’s An’ then went doon tae Swan’s wir stomachs for tae pack We ordered quite a feed which indeed we did need And we swallowed it with speed yet we all feeled slack. 3: He swallowed tripe an’ lard by the yard, we wis scarred And we thought it would go hard when he brought in the bill The shopman looked dismayed as he laid Down another feed an’ said: “You’re a greedy glutton, too!” 4: ‘Twas the scrapings o’ the pot all he got which he brought An’ he swallowed it red hot did the bold McIndoe The shopman brought his charge, Mclndoe was so large, That he began to barge an’ his blood caught fire. 5: Mac began tae swear, tear his hair in despair And tae finish the affair he called the shopman a liar The shopman he drew out, no doubt he could clout, He knocked McIndoe about like an old football. 6: Mac began tae howl: “By ma sowl, that’s a foul,” An’ he chucked an empty bowl at the shopman’s head Struck poor Micky Flynn, knocked the skin, right off his chin, And the ruction did begin and we all fought an’ bled. 7`: Tattered all his clothes, broke his nose, I suppose, Nearly killed him with his blows in no time at all The bobbies did arrive, man alive, four or five, At us they made a dive and they marched us away. 8: Paid for all the meat which we eat, stood a treat, Went home to ruminate on that spree that day. As Jimmy's friend Peter Hall wrote: Greed, being one of the seven deadly sins, it is an ideal subject for satire as Jimmy shows by the relish with which he attacks this Liverpool-Irish piece, learned from a Scouser passing through Elgin. The form of the song helps to reinforce the sly humour of its subject matter, the internal rhyming commonly borrowed by Irish song makers of last century from Gaelic verse, being particularly effectively employed. The folk revival of the 1960s could never have taken place without the great traditional singers of the day - and for North-east songs and bothy ballads there was none more significant than Jimmy MacBeath.