Doing a Turn

[joette]

Having recently visited East Calder where my sister lives I was getting to know my Nephew's wife Amy.Amy is American from Spokane Washington State.She is a delightful young lady who is beautiful,quite but assertive & well able to stick up for herself having four brothers.She also has a beautiful singing voice & I was telling her that if it was the "olden days"i.e the sixties/seventies when we grew up she would have been in demand for a wee turn.
I well remember the Family gatherings at my Grandparents/parents homes where everybody whatever age was asked to do "their turn".
My Dads was "I only have eyes for you"(my parents song) or "Whose that team they call the Rangers"-depending on the occasion& how much of the amber nectar had been partaken off.
We had a piano which was mine inherited from a Great-Aunt but not having a musical bone in my body played by my Uncle Gordon's wife Margaret.
"One singer one song" was my Dad's fav. phrase & you would sit for your turn to come.Being a complete show-off but also aware of my vocal abilities(nil point!) I would usually recite a wee poem.
Grandpa's piece was "There's a green-eyed yellow Idol" & Mum's "The Foggy Dew"
Wee sis Eliz would give lalddy to "Eidleweiss" & later became a duo with cousin Keng(Noraini).My elder sister would either sulk,cry or disappear!
Uncle Jim's was"September Song" & his wife's Auntie Trudy "Wheel of Fortune".
Little brother's was" Lord of the dance"(purloined from Eliz) & all the old Aunties would be in tears.Tommy the baby of the family would look cute & then get sent to bed.
I loved singing in school & Mrs Burns of Dalmuir Primary was a Music Teacher extrodinarre.She would exhort us to" remember this is Tommy Treble clef" & that "The tree was away down in the valley ooooh"Not forgetting "Sparky the magic Piano" I loved that record!
I love to sing in Church,around the house,in the street,the supermarket-just sound like a cat trapped in a mangle.
Nowadays when we get together it's Cds we listen too & each other as we catch up on happenings.I still hanker for a "wee turn" though & I have my party piece ready-"Beautiful" by James Blunt now where's the Party?

[ASGROOMBRIDGE]

I remeber it well, my wee turn was The Bairnies Cuddle Doon At Nicht, and it was alway's in the front parler, not that we had one but a couple of the posher relation's did.

Now it is background music but one thing stay's the same well nearly as I dont like the golden liquid, so its Gin and Tonic in our house, but there is alway's a bottle of Whisky in the cupboard.

Audrey

[Russell]

Hi Joette

Our family used to gather round the piano which my father played and I was singing in four part rounds by the time I was six. I usually ended up joining in with someone else's part though.(I was easily influenced).

Come summer we would go as a family across to Leven to my grandparents (my mother's folks) and we would be allowed to walk up by Schoonie Burn across the road to Letham Glen where there was a 'Go as you please' every Friday (I think it was). Loads of holiday makers came from Glasgow to Leven and they would book in to stay in the locals houses for a fortnight. Some of the garden huts would be tranformed into bedsits for the fortnight and the householders would sleep out in the garden. It was a good boost to their income!
At the 'Go as you please' the compere would invite likely lookers up from the audience and the pianist would valiantly try to find a key which would fit the range of the 'singer' this sometimes proved impossible as some singers ended up 3 keys away from where they started.
If a wee one got up to recite or sing they got rapturous applause whether they were any good or not and that stuck with me how generous the Glasgow folks were to anybodie's effort. I never thought then that in a few short years I would find myself living in Glasgow and being accepted just as readily (I was Edinburgh you see! They made no distinction that I was actually from Ormiston)
When someone talented got up there would be huge applause and the cage full of budgies and canaries behind the crowd (audience) sitting on the grass, would erupt into a flurry of feathers, squawks and whistles.
If you were good the folk near you would nudge you to get up and sing another song. If you hogged the limelight the crowd would whistle and on cue the compere (Never the M.C.) would grab the big clumsy mike away and smoothly invite the next victim up.
The stage was a square, open affair with a railing of rustic logs all round it with a grassy bank behind it where the audience sat
They were great nights. Funny though I don't remember it ever raining and spoiling the show.
If you walked along the Prom the next day you would often see the same folk who had 'done a turn' the night before.
Thanks for stimulating some of my memories.

Russell

[StewL]

Apart from dancing to Scottish music at home (like a band of tinkers ), and some other dances (my dad was a dab hand at dancing), we were usually not asked to do a turn. At other get-togethers, it was invariably my father who got pushed to stand up and sing. He had a really great tenor voice, and no one ever told him to sit down we've heard enough It was only when he got older he started to forget the words and would make them up.

[fmackay]

I used to be dragged out of my bed at weekends to sing at parties which we weren't allowed to attend. Usually traditional songs like Mairi's wedding,Dark Island and loads more(ashamed to say I can't remember half of them now)Sometimes a gaelic song which we had learnt at school.The highlight of the night for me was singing a duet with my late father.This progressed to singing at local concerts etc,sometimes with my dad,sometimes my wee sister.As I got older I used to dread it so stopped doing it.
Like everyone else it's now cd's although occasionally there's the odd teuchter song belted out in the early hours of the morning.
fiona

[Susie Q]

I've just become a member, this is my first post. I've been browsing the boards and saw this post. By! did it bring back some memories. Sitting on the floor in my grannie's house, listening to the adults singing. I was always terrified of being asked to sing, as I was so shy.
My Dad sang a song about a Chinaman from Aberdeen, it went on forever. Mum's party piece was" I'll take you home again Kathleen", and Grannie did a very spirited " Kevin Barry". It's a shame that these parties died out with the older generation, but a great relief to the likes of me who couldn't carry a tune to save my life !

Susie Q

[Clydesdale]

What memories that brought back Joette. We always collected round at my aunt's house on a Sunday night, and my cousin and I were always the ones who had to do a sword dance with knitting needles on the floor! They were great nights when I look back on them now, but all my friends were going out other places and I wanted to be with them.
My father's turn at New Year was always "Cigareettes and Whisky and Wild Wild Women"!. One New Year (when I would rather have been somewhere else) he asked my if I wanted a cup of tea. As nothing else was on offer, I agreed and he brought me a cup, complete with saucer. "You haven't got any milk in it, like you like it" he said. That was news to me but the large wink said it all. In the cup was not tea, but whisky so Dad understood me more than I had realised

Cheers
Helen

[nancy]

Hi all,what memories! I was an only child and loved going with mum to grannies.Granny Cassidy was about 90 so my mum and aunties would visit every other day,one aunty lived with her.They would all sing a wee song.
My mum's was usually Auld Maid in a Garret.
Others were I'll Take You Home Again Kathleen,Isle of Innisfree and Danny Boy. I sat in a corner and cried as i thought that was such a sad song.Mum would then try and coax me to sing,but to no avail,though they knew i would eventually give in to doing a wee irish dance for them
When we went to my dad's side of the family(orourkes)my Aunt Susie would play piano,and sing Garden where the Praities grow,County of Armagh and countless other irish songs.
My dad played accordian,moothie(harmonica)and got hold of a big old fashioned church organ,where you pulled all the stops out.
He was in his glory playing that,and loved the old Scots tunes.
On a Sunday afternoon he would suddenly start playing Hymns on it,and my mum would say,Listen to Holy Mick,Thinks he's still in the Chapel.Go and tell him his teas ready.
They lived next to Wallneuk church in Paisley,so organ went there to a good home when they were moving to a smaller house.Ah Memories
Cheers Nancy.