Ewan MacColl — Nicky Tams

When I was barely ten years auld I left the parish schule My parents feed me to the Mains, to chew his milk And meal I first put on my narrow breeks to hap my spinnel trams And buskit roond my nappin' knees a pair o’ Nicky Tams It's first I gaed for bailey's loon and syne I got for third And syne of course I had to get the horseman’s grip and word A loaf o' breid to be my piece and a bottle for drinking drams; You couldna get through the cattle coort without your Nicky Tams The fairmer I am wi' the noo he's wealthy but he's mean; Tho' corn's cheap his horses thin, his harness fairly done; He gars us load our cairts ower fu', his conscience has nae qualms When breist straps break there’s naithing like a pair o’ Nicky Tams I'm coortin’ bonnie Annie, noo, tho' damsel ticht she be She is five-and-forty and I'm but seventeen; She clorts a muckle piece to me wi' different kinds o’ jams And tells me ilka nicht that she admires my Nicky Tams Ae mornin' I put on my claes, the kirk for to gang My collar it was unco ticht, my breeks were nane ower lang; I had my bible in my hand, likewise my buik o' psalms When Annie roars, "Ye muckle gowk, tak' aff your Nicky Tams!" So unco sweir I took them off, the lassie for to please But aye my breeks they birkit up aroond aboot my knees: A rat gaed crawling up my leg in the middle o' the psalms Never again will I ride the kirk without my Nicky Tams I've often tho't I'd like tae be a bobby on the force Or maybe I'll get on the trams to drive a pair o' horse Whatever it is that I'm tae be, the bobbys or the trams I'll never forget the happy days I wore my Nicky Tams!