Comments on: The Sheepstealer http://www.afolksongaday.com/2012/10/13/the-sheepstealer/  Jon Boden Tue, 21 May 2013 07:19:35 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Diana http://www.afolksongaday.com/2012/10/13/the-sheepstealer/comment-page-1/#comment-20459 Diana Sat, 13 Oct 2012 10:17:54 +0000 http://www.afolksongaday.com/?p=1045#comment-20459 Who says crime doesn't pay when it comes to sheepstealing? Who says crime doesn’t pay when it comes to sheepstealing?

]]> By: muzza(S.E.England) http://www.afolksongaday.com/2012/10/13/the-sheepstealer/comment-page-1/#comment-12005 muzza(S.E.England) Sun, 16 Oct 2011 11:10:47 +0000 http://www.afolksongaday.com/?p=1045#comment-12005 @Jane......like all ladies.you have such a memory and use it to come back at us naive fellas...fancy you remembering the sock episode to bring it back to bite me on the bumfit! Incidently No12 on your list could be a medical term for reversing a vasectomy. I must say sorry to Jon and Admin Simon for wandering off the subject but I made all my "song" comments in 2010.....good to listen again to Jon and old Pete though. @Jane……like all ladies.you have such a memory and use it to come back at us naive fellas…fancy you remembering the sock episode to bring it back to bite me on the bumfit!
Incidently No12 on your list could be a medical term for reversing a vasectomy.
I must say sorry to Jon and Admin Simon for wandering off the subject but I made all my “song” comments in 2010…..good to listen again to Jon and old Pete though.

]]> By: Jane Ramsden http://www.afolksongaday.com/2012/10/13/the-sheepstealer/comment-page-1/#comment-12001 Jane Ramsden Sun, 16 Oct 2011 01:28:43 +0000 http://www.afolksongaday.com/?p=1045#comment-12001 FOOTnote: You were talking about socks and shoes weren't you, Muzzy? I mean, trousers would be out of the question in the cold, being a bumfit an'all... tho' surely the hypothetical count could go up to 23? Rather assuming all farmers are men, of course! I'm sure there must be some she-pherds these days. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! FOOTnote: You were talking about socks and shoes weren’t you, Muzzy? I mean, trousers would be out of the question in the cold, being a bumfit an’all… tho’ surely the hypothetical count could go up to 23? Rather assuming all farmers are men, of course! I’m sure there must be some she-pherds these days. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

]]> By: Jane Ramsden http://www.afolksongaday.com/2012/10/13/the-sheepstealer/comment-page-1/#comment-12000 Jane Ramsden Sun, 16 Oct 2011 01:19:56 +0000 http://www.afolksongaday.com/?p=1045#comment-12000 @ Muzza: We are pure in Yorkshire. Also not daft enough to tek our shoes and socks off in farming country. If the frost don't bite, something else might... or who knows what you might tread in? You will be at a disadvantage there, Little Musgrave, what with the one missing sock an'all... hahahahahahahaha! @ Muzza: We are pure in Yorkshire. Also not daft enough to tek our shoes and socks off in farming country. If the frost don’t bite, something else might… or who knows what you might tread in?

You will be at a disadvantage there, Little Musgrave, what with the one missing sock an’all… hahahahahahahaha!

]]> By: muzza(S.E.England) http://www.afolksongaday.com/2012/10/13/the-sheepstealer/comment-page-1/#comment-11998 muzza(S.E.England) Sat, 15 Oct 2011 20:55:52 +0000 http://www.afolksongaday.com/?p=1045#comment-11998 @Jane............I can't speak for what goes on in Yorkshire... but to us yokels living "Down South", Jane's list could be a list of criminal offences!!!!! ...and I suppose if the shepherd took off his clothes he could count to 21. @Jane…………I can’t speak for what goes on in Yorkshire…
but to us yokels living “Down South”, Jane’s list could be a list of criminal offences!!!!!
…and I suppose if the shepherd took off his clothes he could count to 21.

]]> By: Jane Ramsden http://www.afolksongaday.com/2012/10/13/the-sheepstealer/comment-page-1/#comment-11993 Jane Ramsden Fri, 14 Oct 2011 23:44:09 +0000 http://www.afolksongaday.com/?p=1045#comment-11993 Can't believe I didn't comment last year on a sheep song! Just beautiful, despite the crime to the poor old ewe and its owner. Reinhard's Mainly Norfolk alludes to Dorset origins for this song. In Swaledale and Wensleydale, a shepherd would use this tally for counting sheep as follows: 1. Yan 2. Tyan (Tan) 3. Tethera 4. Methera 5. Pimp 6. Sethera 7. Lethera 8. Hovera 9. Dovera 10. Dick (Dik) 11. Yan-a-Dick (Yan Dik) 12. Tyan-A-Dick (Tan Dik) 13. Tethera-A-Dick (Tethera Dik) 14. Methera-A-Dick (Methera Dik) 15. Bumfit (Bumfitt) 16. Yan-A-Bumfit (Yan Bumfitt) 17. Tyan-A-Bumfit (Tan Bumfitt) 18. Tether-A-Bumfit (Tethera etc) 19. Mether-A-Bumfit (Methera etc) 20. Giggot (Jigget) When the shepherd reached 20, he'd raise a finger and start again. Once he'd reached 100 (5 fingers), he'd place a stone in his pocket and begin again. There's a Wensleydale variation where the shepherd would transfer a stone from one pocket to another on reaching 20 and start counting again. If they'd done all this in Dorset, 'appen the sheep'd nivver be left along enough to steal! Can’t believe I didn’t comment last year on a sheep song! Just beautiful, despite the crime to the poor old ewe and its owner.

Reinhard’s Mainly Norfolk alludes to Dorset origins for this song. In Swaledale and Wensleydale, a shepherd would use this tally for counting sheep as follows:

1. Yan
2. Tyan (Tan)
3. Tethera
4. Methera
5. Pimp
6. Sethera
7. Lethera
8. Hovera
9. Dovera
10. Dick (Dik)
11. Yan-a-Dick (Yan Dik)
12. Tyan-A-Dick (Tan Dik)
13. Tethera-A-Dick (Tethera Dik)
14. Methera-A-Dick (Methera Dik)
15. Bumfit (Bumfitt)
16. Yan-A-Bumfit (Yan Bumfitt)
17. Tyan-A-Bumfit (Tan Bumfitt)
18. Tether-A-Bumfit (Tethera etc)
19. Mether-A-Bumfit (Methera etc)
20. Giggot (Jigget)

When the shepherd reached 20, he’d raise a finger and start again. Once he’d reached 100 (5 fingers), he’d place a stone in his pocket and begin again. There’s a Wensleydale variation where the shepherd would transfer a stone from one pocket to another on reaching 20 and start counting again.

If they’d done all this in Dorset, ‘appen the sheep’d nivver be left along enough to steal!

]]> By: Iain Robertson http://www.afolksongaday.com/2012/10/13/the-sheepstealer/comment-page-1/#comment-11471 Iain Robertson Fri, 19 Aug 2011 10:27:57 +0000 http://www.afolksongaday.com/?p=1045#comment-11471 Hello Jon Hello Jon A very late response here but I have an idea about your “building a house out on the moor”. I’m a university lecturer and I intend using this song in one of my lectures as I think it’s a wonderful social document. It is my guess that the ‘house’ would be just that – not a hideaway but a response to population pressure. In the pre-enclosure period it was a fairly common practice for those without land to carve out a small piece of the common land for themselves – they were effectively squatters. And I’m sure that ‘the moor’ would have been, at the time the song is set, common land. Hello Jon
Hello Jon

A very late response here but I have an idea about your “building a house out on the moor”. I’m a university lecturer and I intend using this song in one of my lectures as I think it’s a wonderful social document. It is my guess that the ‘house’ would be just that – not a hideaway but a response to population pressure. In the pre-enclosure period it was a fairly common practice for those without land to carve out a small piece of the common land for themselves – they were effectively squatters. And I’m sure that ‘the moor’ would have been, at the time the song is set, common land.

]]> By: Matthew Gerring http://www.afolksongaday.com/2012/10/13/the-sheepstealer/comment-page-1/#comment-4714 Matthew Gerring Thu, 14 Oct 2010 07:34:45 +0000 http://www.afolksongaday.com/?p=1045#comment-4714 I heard Paul Sartin sing this at Oxford folk club once I think - very nice song. Although my family were shepherds *and* most wonderfully poor most of the time(!) I heard Paul Sartin sing this at Oxford folk club once I think – very nice song. Although my family were shepherds *and* most wonderfully poor most of the time(!)

]]> By: OxfordClareB http://www.afolksongaday.com/2012/10/13/the-sheepstealer/comment-page-1/#comment-4703 OxfordClareB Wed, 13 Oct 2010 19:40:26 +0000 http://www.afolksongaday.com/?p=1045#comment-4703 Thanks Jon! Remember the lovely recording by Ian, Claire and Graham, and a friend recalls Ian Woods singing it in the 1970s... Really like Jon's interpretation. What a haunting tune - another one that's been on my 'must learn sometime' list for far too long ;-) Thanks Jon! Remember the lovely recording by Ian, Claire and Graham, and a friend recalls Ian Woods singing it in the 1970s… Really like Jon’s interpretation. What a haunting tune – another one that’s been on my ‘must learn sometime’ list for far too long ;-)

]]> By: Dave Eyre http://www.afolksongaday.com/2012/10/13/the-sheepstealer/comment-page-1/#comment-4695 Dave Eyre Wed, 13 Oct 2010 09:08:31 +0000 http://www.afolksongaday.com/?p=1045#comment-4695 Two other versions - a folk rock version by Duncan McFarlane, and an 8 minute version by Chris Sherburn and Denny Bartley on the CD "Lucy Wan". Two other versions – a folk rock version by Duncan McFarlane, and an 8 minute version by Chris Sherburn and Denny Bartley on the CD “Lucy Wan”.

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