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On your feetikin . . .

(4 Posts)
Elegran Sun 05-Mar-23 13:44:58

Does anyone know this children's song? I can't find it on the internet.

A Dr Craig who taught music at Moray house college of education had a mine of old Scottish songs for chthe primary school, one of which has been going round in my head today. I think it was called "A grandam's song" and it was sung by a grandma bouncing a baby that stood up on it's feet on her knees. The tune is a strathspey. the words go:-

"On your feetikin, my dear,
On your feetikin, arriye
On your feetikin, my dear,
Ye'll potato liftin' try.
I'll no let ye to the ?xxxx?
I'll no let ye to the ?shore?
But on peats when they are dry,
Ye'll potato liftin' try."

It was still common then (in the 50s/60s) for children in farming areas to be taken out of school for weeks at a time to help when the potatoes were lifted. This bairn was eager to get started! The two things in ?? question marks were other more arduous and possibly dangerous things that the children might have been expected to help at but grandma wasn't going to let baby try those!

Floradora9 Sun 05-Mar-23 21:48:22

I was a child born in 1944 and I went tattie picking aged 7 for the first time . The local schools had two weeks holiday in October to let us go to the tatties and almost all the pupils would go but not all as young as I did . You got a half bit to gather if you were little so got half the pay. After a couple of years I had a whole bit to myself. I only had one friend in high school whose father refused to let her go as he said it was slave labour but many a child paid for their school uniform from their wages. I was lucky that I got to spend mine as I wanted. As a teenager it was a great way to loose a bit of weight.

Blossoming Sun 05-Mar-23 23:20:06

I remember something starting ‘Feetikin, feetikin’ but can’t remember any more, sorry.

Bodach Sun 05-Mar-23 23:37:19

It was called "Tattie Howking" in my neck of the woods.