I.

I wish ye sirs, ye a' had seen
The ferly sicht I saw yestreen
O' fifty fiddles tuned and keen
To play Niel Gow's Memorum —
O fifty fiddles at their best
Fifty fiddles, fifty fiddles;
Fifty fiddles; folk confess't —
Was never sic a splorum.
The 'cellos ten in temper grand
Wi' manly note made up the band,
While double bass on aether hand
Did argue for decorum.

II.

And when the leader signal gave
My hert did loup to ride the wave
O' warlock music gay and grave —
Strathspeys in a' their glory
And cantrip reels wi' kittle din,
Cantrip reels, cantrip reels,
Cantrip reels wi' kittle din
And mirth-provokin' story —
The bows like shuttles faster flew,
Frae back to front the cords they drew
To woof the warp o' tartan true,
As Hielan 's Tobermory.

III.

The gurry-worry wheel't about
The back an' fore an' in an' out —
It jinket like a pretty trout
That kens na o' decorum; —
The deevil's buckie o' a thing —
Deevil's buckie, deevil's buckie;
Deevil's buckie o' a thing —
They ca'd it Tullochgorum!
The like o' yon ye never saw —
I leugh till I was like to fa'
And for my wits, I tint them a' —
The nicht o' Niel's Memorum.