Embro: Southside Ditties by Gordon Jarvie

Tune: Ti, ti, ti, ta (wi’ apologies tae Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony)

Duddingston Loch
Skate ower the ice
Wish ye wir whisky?

Prestonfield Hoose
Curtains afire?
Thon’s a bit risky

Morningside Road
23 bus?
Maks ye feel frisky

Liberton Brae
Playing aa day
Ti, ti, ti, ta

Salisbury Crags
Pit oot mair flags
Ti, ti, ti, ta

Holyrood Perk
No eftir derk
Ti, ti, ti, ta

Colinton Dell
Whit is yon smell?
Ti, ti, ti, ta

Comiston Drive
Guid for a jive
Ti, ti, ti, ta

Newington Road
Ken the post code?
Ti, ti, ti, ta

Gilmerton Dykes
Jimp tae yer bikes
Ti, ti, ti, ta

Hermiston Gait
Dinna be blate
Ti, ti, ti, ta

Hartington Place
Let’s hae a race
Ti, ti, ti, ta

Burdiehoose Square
Naebody’s there
Ti, ti, ti, ta

Craiglockhart Hill
Cufft ye fower–nil
Ti, ti, ti, ta

Juniper Green
Wha’s the daft preen?
Ti, ti, ti, ta

Tynecastle’s tough
(Slow doon) Thon’s/quite/eneuch
Ti, ti, ti, ta.

from A Man Passing Through: memoir with poems selected and new (London: Greenwich Exchange, 2014)

Reproduced by permission of the author and publisher.