Cutting Down the Pines
Traditional
- Lyrics written by
- [Traditional]
- Originally written by
- [Traditional]
- Language
- English
- Adapted from
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The Knickerbocker Line written by [Traditional]
- Comments
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In this Irish setting, the song describes a carter carrying milk from the country into town. He invites a maid onto his cart and woos her on the journey. Many of the words are taken from "The Soor Mulk Cairt", written by Thomas Johnstone in the 1880s for the comedian J.C. MacDonald. That song, in Scots dialect and sung to the tune of "The Garden Where the Praties Grow", had been published in a Glasgow weekly periodical "The Professional and Authors' Journal" which printed many music-hall songs.
A letter from Johnstone's daughter printed in the Weekly Scotsman newspaper on August 6, 1959, explained that her father would travel on a Sunday morning on a sour-milk cart. Sour milk was used for baking bread and there was no urgency in its transportation. A slow paced horse and a warm summer's morning gave the carter plenty of time for flirtation and romance, as described in the song. - Licensing
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