Wee Cooper O'Fife

Wee Cooper o' Fife
Tune for Wee Cooper o' Fife
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"Wee Cooper O'Fife" (Roud 117) is a Scottish folk song about a cooper who has "a braw new wife" who will not cook, clean, and sew in case she "spoil her comely hue". A town in Fife is called Cupar; this is a pun.

Verses get added, with one version having him put a sheep skin jacket on her and beating it. It was recorded by Burl Ives on 11 February 1941[1] for his debut album Okeh Presents the Wayfaring Stranger. It has also been recorded by Hedy West, Ed McCurdy, and Ian Campbell.[2]

The Wee Cooper O'Fife is also the name of a Scottish country dance devised by Hugh Foss to fit the tune of the folk song, which is unusual in having ten-bar rather eight-bar phrases.[3]

  1. ^ Naxos: link Archived 2007-09-29 at the Wayback Machine
  2. ^ "Wee Cooper of Fife". Yet Another Digital Tradition Page. Retrieved 2021-06-21.
  3. ^ "Dance: The Wee Cooper O' Fife - SCDDB". my.strathspey. 2021-03-12. Retrieved 2021-06-21.