“Jeely
Piece” Flats Go Bang
The skyscraper apartment
blocks in Glasgow’s
Castlemilk housing
scheme that inspired the
“ Jeely Piece” song,
have been demolished.
Those unloved houses
were amongst the first
of the high–rise flats
to be built in the city
and the inability of
parents to throw down a
“jeely Pieces” [a jam
sandwich] to their
children playing below
prompted folk-singer
Adam McNaughton to
write the well-know song
which described the “
skyscraper wean wastin’
awa” because “ ye cannae
fling pieces oot a
20-story flat”
“Skyscraper Wean”
I’m a skyscraper wean, I
live on the nineteenth
flair,
But I’m no gaun oot to
play any mair,
Since we moved to
Castlemilk, I’m wastin’
away,
‘Cause I’m getting one
less meal every day.
O ye cannae fling pieces
oot a twenty-story flat,
Seven hundred hungry
weans will testify to
that,
If it’s butter, cheese
or jeely, if the breid
is plain or pan,
The odds against it
reaching earth are
ninety-nine to wan.
On the first day my maw
flung oot a piece o’
Hovis broon.
It came skyting oot the
winda and went up
instead o’ doon,
But every twenty-seven
hours it comes back in
tae sight,
Cause my piece went in
tae orbits and became a
satellite.
On the second day my maw
flung me a piece oot
once again,
It went and hit the
pilot in a fast,
low-flying plane,
He scraped it off his
goggles, shouting
through the intercom:
“The Clydeside Reds have
got me wi’ a breid and
jeely bomb!”
On the third day my maw
thought she would try
another throw,
The Salvation Army band
wis staunin’ doon below,
“ Onward Christian
Soldiers” was the piece
they should have played,
But the oompah-man was
playing a
piece-on-marmalade.
We’ve wrote away tae
Oxfam to try and get
some aid,
And a’ the weans in
Castlemilk have formed a
“Piece “ brigade,
We’re going to march to
George’s Square
demanding civil rights,
Like “Nae Mair Hooses
Over Piece Flinging
Height!’
©Adam McNaughton
Singer/songwriter Adam
MacNaughtan, a product
of the Scottish Folk
Revival of the 60s, has
been writing, collecting
and singing songs for
three decades and has
become one of the
best-loved Glasgow
characters.
He is a member of the
hugely popular Scots
group
Stramash.
Supplied by Tom Frew
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