Dundee Street Songs, Rhymes and Games: The William Montgomerie Collection, 1952

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In 1952 when these songs and rhymes were recorded in Hilltown, Dundee there may not have been a street or playground anywhere where the sound of children singing and playing was part of everyday life. Although there had been Scottish collectors of 'bairn sangs' since the 1820s, it was not until the 1940s that anyone in Scotland audio-recorded the actual sound of playground voices. These recordings of school children captured the vitality of the local dialect, the spontaneity of their language-use outside the classroom, their repertoire of songs, rhymes and games, their musicality , as well as the sounds that echo the speed and accuracy of their hand-eye co-ordination. (Audio links included in the notes).