The Cramped Song

It's a mauzy old day out in Port Aux Basque harbour,
Where the ferry's on hand across in the strait;
All I got is me gart book of Newfoundland words,
To help the mainlander interpret our phrase.

You, pretty dear, now, you looks quite a dream,
Have a night to your quimp, sir, she's gone on a squish;
That's the first goin' off, sir, not used to the lot,
What your belly keg needs is a bit of corned fish.

There's nar 'nother place, sir, you can say what you like,
'Tis handy, about the best you can find, me old trout;
Oh, we got us our rag-molls and a scattered hard ticket,
And some times our mouth speech is hard to make out.

You take the book, sir, it might come in handy,
Got thousands off pages right chock full of stuff;
There's a lot of gram words there are, some of them's queer,
Not one bit atall like they talks 'cross the gulf.

'Tis your own blind look out, sir, just you're here a forthnight,
But least ways, we'll show you some fine goin's on;
They hopes for a scattered big time and a scoff,
And we won't cry crack till we gets to St. John's.

There's nar 'nother crowd, sir, at least pardon to,
Real king hands and charmers for heavier a bout;
But if you gets leary and wants to turn in,
There's no worries here about a place to keel out.

There's skipper George, down there in his dory,
His heavin' up tom cods on the stage with a pew;
The first thing he asks, if you'll walk o'er his threshold,
Is. come on in, skipper, where you longs to be.

Where's aunt Bessie, Uncle George?
Oh, she's up on the choppin' block;
She callin' her sheep, now here, Nanny, come, Nan,
So, here she comes now with some chips in her apron.

Goin' a-warm up the toutins she got in the pan,
There's nar crowd around, sir, that calls after we;
Rigged out in our slip shots or off in our vamps,
To be arse over kettles down there 'mong the toddies.

Are you and your doxey out having a rampsy?
Yes, some times our mouth speech is hard to make out.

####.... Simani ....####

See more songs by Simani.

From the Dictionary Of Newfoundland English:
Arse over kettles - head over heels.
Blind look-out - poor situation.
Charmer - persons, often male, able to cure ailments by apparently supernatural or sometimes para-medical means.
Cry crack - to give up an action; to cease.
Hard ticket - Intractable person; hard case.
King hand - surprising or unusual person.
Mauzy - of the weather, damp, foggy, misty or close, sometimes with very light rain or condensation on objects and a cool, gentle wind off the sea.
Me old trout - familiar form of address; term to denote friendliness.
Pew - long stick with a sharp prong or tine affixed to the end, used in moving fish from boat to fishing-stage.
Rag-moll - ragged beggar; woman all in tatters; slovenly, untidy person.
Rampsy (rampse) - fight playfully and noisily; to skylark.
Scattered- located here and there; few and far between; occasional; infrequent
Scoff - cooked meal at sea or ashore, especially at night and often part of an impromptu party; such a repast prepared with 'bucked' or stolen ingredients.
Squish (asquish) - askew; out of alignment; in desperate straits.
Stage - elevated platform on the shore with working tables, sheds, etc, where fish are landed and processed for salting and drying, and fishing gear and supplies are stored.
Toddies (tod) - small number of dried and salted cod piled on a fish-flake or platform, built on poles and spread with boughs for drying codfish on the foreshore.
Tom cod - small immature codfish (Gadus morhua).
Toutin - piece of bread dough fried in fat; damper dog.
Vamp - short, thick woollen oversock, worn in boots to prevent chafing or around the house as a slipper.