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Hey Ca’ Thro’ / The Carles o’ Dysart

Hey Ca’ Thro’ was contributed by Robert Burns to the Scots Musical Museum, but it may be older, as additional verses have been collected in the tradition. The places mentioned are all in Fife.

Ewan MacColl sang Hey Ca’ Thro’ on his 1959 Folkways album Songs of Robert Burns. The album’s booklet noted:

The four towns mentioned in the first stanza of this powerful work song are small fishing villages on the south coast of Fife. Burns is believed [to] have collected this song on a trip near there; it had never appeared in print before Burns reported it.

Five Hand Reel sang Hey Ca’ Through in 1976 as part of the Both Sides of the Forth medley on their eponymous first album, Five Hand Reel.

Gordon McIntyre and Danny Spooner sang Hey Ca’ Thro’ in 1978 on their album Revived and Relieved!.

Jean Redpath sang Hey Ca’ Thro’ in 1987 on her album The Songs of Robert Burns Volumes 6. Serge and Esther Hovey noted:

The lyrics name four fishing villages on the south coast of Fife. Burns passed through the area near the end of his 600 mile Highland Tour in 1787. Whether he collected the verses or created them is not known.

The melody is a typical Scottish border smallpipes tune; the use of 9/8 time is very characteristic. Burns sent this song to James Johnson for inclusion in The Scots Musical Museum. It had not appeared in any other collection previously.

Andy M. Stewart sang Hey Ca’ Thro’ on his 1989 album Songs of Robert Burns. The liner notes commented:

This song was never in print before it appeared in Johnson’s Volume, and tradition has supplied another verse as follows:

Never break your heart for love
Just turn the boat about:
There’s as gude fish i’ the sea
As ever yet cam’ out.
(Hey, ca’ thro’, etc.)

Dysart, Buckhaven, Largo and Leven are four fishing villages on the south coast of Fife.

(From The People’s Edition of The Poetical Works of Robert Burns)

Janet Russell and Christine Kydd sang Hey Ca’ Thro’ in 1996 on the Linn anthology The Complete Songs of Robert Burns Volume 2.

Ed Miller sang Hey Ca’ Thro’ on his 2009 album of songs written or collected by Robert Burns, Lyrics of Gold.

Mick West sang a medley of Wee Willie Gray (Scots Musical Museum, no. 514), The Carles o’ Dysart (Scots Musical Museum, no. 392) and Tail Toddle on his 2009 Greentrax CD Sark o’ Snaw. The album’s booklet noted:

The song, The Carles o’ Dysart celebrates the life of the old—the ‘Carles’ and ‘Kimmers’—and the young—the lads and lassies of Dysart, Buckhaven, Largo and Leven. The words “Ca’ thro” was the cry from a fishing boat approaching a crowded shore. This would have heard most days along the coast at that time.

The tune, Hey Ca’ Thro’, was not known until Burns sent it to the Scots Musical Museum, and is believed to be a Border pipe-tune.

Robyn Stapleton sang a medley of the three songs I’m O’er Young, Hey Ca’ Thro’ and Brose & Butter, together with Marion Dewar’s Jig, on her 2017 CD Songs of Robert Burns.

Lyrics

Ewan MacColl sings Hey Ca’ Thro’

Up wi’ the carls of Dysart
And the lads o’ Buckhaven,
And the kimmers o’ Largo
And the lasses o’ Leven!

Chorus (after each verse):
Hey, ca’ thro’, ca thro’,
For we hae muckle ado!

We bae tales to tell,
And we hae sangs to sing;
We hae pennies to spend,
And we hae pints to bring.

We’ll live a’ our days,
And them that comes behin’,
Let them do the like,
And spend the gear they win!

Gordon McIntyre and Danny Spooner sing Hey Ca’ Thro’

Up wi the carls o’ Dysart,
And the lads o’ Buckhaven,
And the kimmers o’ Largo,
And the lasses o’ Leven.

Chorus (after each verse):
Hey, ca’ thro’, ca’ thro’,
For we hae mickle ado;
Hey, ca’ thro’, ca’ thro’,
For we hae mickle ado.

We hae tales to tell,
And we hae sangs to sing;
We hae pennies to spend,
And we hae pints to bring.

We’ll live a’ our days,
And them that comes behin’,
Let them do the like;
And spend the gear they win.