Stanley Robertson sings a family song, "The Tinker Woman's Lament"

Singer

Robertson, Stanley

Date

• 1986

Summary

• Stanley Robertson sings a song about the hard lot of Traveller women. He remarks that the song was composed by his mother. It is set in the voice of a woman accustomed to hard work, whether on the road or at home. "My mother felt sorry for a lot of women that never got peace in this life — always working, never getting any rest. She used to say, 'the only rest a poor traveller woman will get is in her grave.'” After singing the song, Robertson diddles its tune, a slow air whose Scots Gaelic name is Buain na Rainich ('Cutting the Bracken'). The recording was made by John Niles and members of his research team in the sitting room of a rented house in Auchtermuchty when Robertson and his daughters were their guests there for a few days.