The Black Joke

The TTA had this on thier home page. A wealth of information to boot .
A wee taste -
" The tune played by his source from the islands was the one commonly known throughout Britain and Ireland during the 18th century as "The Black Joke" (or Jock). A variety of songs were set to it, all of them bawdy and all concerned with sexual intercourse, usually with the burder "Her black joke and belly so white" (where the 'black joke' refers to female genitilia. "Some of the texts are the creations of music-hall hacks, such as the earliest published verses, entitled 'The Original black Joke, Sent from Dublin', which begin: 'No mortal sure can blame ye man/Who prompted by nature will act as he can'...(song sheet, c. 1720 Mitchell Library, Glasgow). Simple and more direct 'folk' versions were well-known in Scotland. The poet Robert Burns wrote a parody beginning 'My girl she's airy...'" (Cooke, 1986). The lyrics appearing below are taken from Andrew Crawford's 1826–28 Collection of Ballads and Songs:

A wee black thing sat on a cushion
Was hairy without and toothless within
Wi' her black Jock and her belley so white

A piper and twa little drummers came there
To play wi the wee thing well covered o'er wi hair

The piper went in and he jigged about
The twa little drummers stood ruffling without

But when he came out he hang doon his head
He look'd like a snail that was trodden to dead

Say's he thay wa'd need to hae something to spare
That meddle wi you or your wee pickle hair. ... (Cooke) "


https://tunearch.org/wiki/Anno....tation:Black_Joke_(1


That's a taste go read it all .


We got local drama down down Leathes Ham