Songs of the Ridings by F. W. Moorman: The Artist

Songs of the Ridings

The Artist

Lang-haired gauvies coom my way, drawin' t' owd abbey an' brig,
All their crack is o' Art - statties an' picturs an' paints;
Want to put me on their canvas, donned i' my farmer's rig,
Tell me I'm pairt o' t' scenery, stained-glass windeys an' saints.

I reckon I'm artist an' all, though I niver gave it a thowt;
Breeder o' stock is my trade, Mike Pullan o' t' Abbey Close.
What sud a farmer want wi' picturs that brass has bowt?
All his art is i' t' mistal, wheer t' heifers are ranged i' rows.

Look at yon pedigree bull, wi' an eye as breet as a star,
An' a coat that shines like velvet, when it catches t' glent o' t' sun;
Hark to him bealin' for t' cows, wi' a voice like t' thunner on t' scar,
Watch them sinews i' t' neck, ripplin' wi' mischief an' fun.

Three generations o' men have lived their lives for yon bull,
Tewed at his keep all t' day, dreamed o' his sleekness all t' neet;
Moulded the bugth o' his buttocks, fashioned the breadth o' his skull -
Ivery one on 'em artists, sculptors o' butcher's meat.

What are your Rubens and Vandykes anent the craft that is Breed?
Anent the art that is Life, what's figures o' bronze or stone?
Us farmers 'll mould you models, better nor statties that's deead -
Strength that is wick i' the flesh, Beauty that's bred i' the bone.

Bailiff's doughter at t' Hollins, shoo's Breed, an' shoo's Life, an shoo's Art,
Bred frae a Westmorland statesman out o' a Craven lass;
Carries hersen like a queen when shoo drives to markit i' t' cart:
Noan o' yon scraumy-legged painters sal iver git howd o' her brass.

Picturs is reight enough for fowks cluttered up i' Leeds,
Fowks that have ne'er hannled beasts, can't tell a tup frae a yowe;
But the art for coontry lads is the art that breathes an' feeds,
An' t' finest gallery i' t' worrld is a Yorkshire cattle-show.

Notes (arranged alphabetically)

Anent : next to, beside, compared with
Bealin' : bawling, shouting
Beasts : cows (sometimes used of farm animals generally)
Brass : money
Breet : bright, clear
Brig : bridge
Bugth : build, size, bulk
Cluttered up : crowded together
Crack : conversation, chatter
Craven lass : woman or girl from Craven (a district in the Yorkshire Dales)
Gauvies : simpletons (M)
Git howd o' her brass : get hold of her money, i.e. marry her (but perhaps with other connotations here)
Hersen : herself
Like t' thunner on t' scar : like thunder resonating on a hillside rock outcrop
Mistal : cow shed (Lit. dung-stall )
Rig : clothes, costume
Scraumy-legged : spindle-legged (M)
Statties : statues
Tewed : toiled, worked hard
Tup : ram, male sheep
Westmorland statesman : estate manager in the old county NW of Yorkshire
Wick : living, alive, lively (quick)
Yowe : ewe, female sheep

Explanations marked (M) are from Professor Moorman's original footnotes. Wherever possible, meanings have been checked in Dr Arnold Kellet's The Yorkshire Dictionary of Dialect, Tradition and Folklore (obtainable from the YDS), The Chambers Dictionary, and The Oxford English Dictionary. We have attempted at all times to be guided by context and to convey all probable intended meanings. We have not explained those words which differ only slightly in pronunciation and spelling from modern standard English.

Songs of the Ridings

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