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Sleepytoon (Traditional)

from The Salt Box EP by Michael Bentley

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about

I learned this song off the Dougie MacLean and Alan Roberts 1978 release Caledonia. Apparently it is a traditional song from Aberdeenshire, and employs some fun dialect and phrasing. I cannot recall hearing any other versions of Sleepy Toon down through the years, though there must be some other versions out there.

lyrics

It happened at last Whitsuntide
I tired o' my place
Sae I gaed up tae Imsch tae fee
my fortune for tae chase

(chorus)
and sing irry irrity arry
and sing irry irrity an

I fell in wi' Adam Mitchell
and wi' him I did presume
he's a farmer up Kinnethmont way
at a place called Sleepy Toon

Says he if you'll agree wi' me
ye'll get the fairest play
for I never gar my servants work
mair nur ten hours a day

It was on a Monday mornin'
we gaed into Sleepy Toon
and he's ranked us in good order
for to lay his turnips doon

And the orders were to bed at six
and never leave the Toon
and for ilka time we left it
we'd be fined half-a-crown

Ah but we paid little heed to this
and often took the pass
sometimes to buy tobacco
and sometimes to court a lass

But now the term is roond again
and our wages we hae won
so we're awa' to Riny Meer
to rise us up some fun

And when we're ower in Alford
we'll gar the glass go roond a
nd we'll tell them o' the usage
that we had in Sleepy Toon

And maybe I'll see old Adam
a-suppin' at his brose
I'll gie him a len o' ma hanky
for to dicht his snotty nose

credits

from The Salt Box EP, released September 17, 2023

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The Foundry Berkeley, California

The Foundry was begun, originally, as an outlet for Michael Bentley's chapbooks in the mid-80s. It grew to include audio releases in the mid-90s, and now serves as an umbrella for artistic ventures from Bentley and his collaborators.

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