Jimmy McBeath - Pittenweem Jo

1: I’m gaun wi a lass fae Pittenweem, She’s every fisher laddie’s dream, She guts the herrin doun on the quay, And saves her kisses just for me. 2: It was in July this came to pass, When I met this bonnie fisher lass, Wi her een sae blue an black her hair, I met her doun at Anster Fair. Pittenweem, Pittenweem, She’s every fisher laddie’s dream, She guts the herrin doun on the quay, And saves her kisses just for me. 3: I spiered at her could I tak her hame, She says, “O fine I ken your game; But never-the less ye’re awfa kind, In fact, I widna really mind.” Pittenweem, Pittenweem, She’s every fisher laddie’s dream, She guts the herrin doun on the quay, And saves her kisses just for me. 4: I took her hame on Saturday nicht, The Moon wis shinin, O sae bricht, And as we lay there on the grass, I said, “O Jo, was ye be my lass?” Pittenweem, Pittenweem, She’s every fisher laddie’s dream, She guts the herrin doun on the quay, And saves her kisses just for me. 5: She’s ma lass noo, o that I ken, She disna look at ither men, For I was quick and they were slow, That’s how I won my Pittenweem Jo. Pittenweem, Pittenweem, She’s every fisher laddie’s dream, She guts the herrin doun on the quay, And saves her kisses just for me. When John Watt first heard Jimmy sing Pittenweem Jo - he asked Jimmy where he had learned it. Apparently Jimmy said he had heard it many years before. But it was John who had written the song only a few years earlier - in 1960 - and the song was first published in Collins 101 Scottish Songs in 1962. Certainly John Watt and his group the Tregullion from Dunfermline had already made the song well known in the early 60s and perhaps Jimmy heard it from John when they were both guests at the Edinburgh Folk Club Festival in Edinburgh in 1963. But here we are in April 1964 with Jimmy singing to an audience in St Andrews who clearly knew the sing well.