Not Any More

[smiddykilry]

Not Any more
By Jim Menzies

Bonnie Dundee on the banks o' the Tay,
Ye still hae ma hert, tho'in Alyth I stay,
When I visit it's different, or it seems so to me,
An' I find masel' driftin' in deep reverie.

Oh whaur's the community I used to stay?
Wi' the stone walled closies whaur we a' played,
Whaur you knew everybody, ground floor tae the third,
And keepin' your door shut was considered absurd.

Whaur are the bairns that played in the street?
The marbles, an' pinners that bounced aff concrete,
Do they still sing while skippin', or drap aff a dyke?
Do they hae cuddy races, kick the can, an' the like?

We a' played fitba' fae morning tae nicht,
When it got dark then we played by street licht,
Then fae oot the windies, came the order- "come in",
An' abody knew that the next goal wid win.

And whaur's the wee shop whaur ma joab was to buy,
A half stane o' tatties, an' some carrots forby,
A bag o' broken biscuits and maybe some scones,
An the wummin aye asked"how's yer Maw getting' on "

Whaur's a' the Tallies' shops I knew so well ?
Cabarelli's, Ianetta's, they a' used to sell,
Fish suppers wi' peas, ice cream in a poke,
You knew they were Tallies, the minute they spoke.

And whaur is the cludgie that cosy wee cell?
The string fae the cistern - I remember it well,
Whaur I'd sit hunched ower, studyin' reports o' the gemme,
Tae decide if Jack Harkness an' me saw the same.

The auld double deckers that ran in the toon,
The fares were collected efter ye'd sat doon,
The conductress aye knew how tae deal wi' a nyaff,
"If' yir goin' then comoan-if yir no, well gitaff."

We spoke oor ain language, we were na posh,
Big Wullie, wee Shuggie, the washie, the Sosh,
Daft Peem, fat Boab, that glaikit big dreep,
The ba's on the slates, and yir gas at a peep.

I think o' the days o' my tenement hame,
The mair modern hooses, they're jist no' the same,
Now there's big highways, flyovers and jams,
It's no' pounds and ounces, it's just kilograms.

Maybe its times, no' the toon that has changed,
As I find masel lookin' doon memory lane,
These memories seem, sae far, yet sae near,
Wi' the benefit o' hindsight one thing stands sae clear.

Those days wurnae aye rosy, and money was ticht,
The wages hauf' finished by Monday nicht,
But still we came through it, and weathered the ruts,
The reason is simple......
oor Parents had guts.

[paddyscar]

Thank you for treating us to this 'memory'. Frances

[nancy]

Thanks for taking us down memory lane.Those were great times and seems like only yesterday.My do i sound ancient or what? Cheers Nancy

[JimM]

Good stuff

And if I may say so.... a fine bit of writing by my namesake

Jim

[JohnC]

Thanks for this one. A remarkable co-incidence, as I discovered (only a few weeks ago) a Glasgow version of the same among my mother's belongings [she was moving house at age 93!]. It has no author or title, so I wondered where it originated.

It is mostly the same as yours, but the first two verses run:

O, where is the Glesca' where I used to stay?
The white wally closes, done up wi' pipe clay
Where you knew every neighbour from first floor to third,
And to keep your door shut was considered absurd.

And where are the weans that ance played in the streets,
Wi' a jorry, a peerie, or a gird wi' a cleek.
Can they still get a cudgie, or dreep aff a dyke,
Play hunch-cuddy-hunch, kick the can, or the like.

A later verse begins:
And where is the tram caur that once did the turn,
Doon the Great Western Road, on the old Yoker run.
The conductress aye knew ... etc

[DavidWW]

Maybe Hamish Imlach (1940-1996) Scottish entertainer. Hamish Imlach was one of the greats in the Scottish folk scene of the 1960s to 1980s. ... ???

David

[DavidWW]

It appears to have been written by Adam McNaughton as a poem, but I'm sure that either Imlach or Matt McGinn put it to music .........

http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/5to14/spec ... alkies.asp

David