Naebody Kens Ye
Written in 1845 by Robert L. Malone (1812-1850)
Air composed by Samuel Barr (pub. 1880)
arr. Lainey Dempsey (2021)
Are ye doin’ ought weel?
are ye’ thriving ma man?
Be thankfu’ tae fortune
fer a’ that she sends ye
Ye’ll hae plenty o’ friends
fer tae offer a han’
When ye needna their
countenance,
a’body kens ye
But wait ye a while
till the tide taks a turn
And awa wi the ebb
drifts the favours she lent ye
Empty pockets will then
leave ye lanely tae mourn
When ye need o’ their
countenance,
naebody kens ye
Naebody kens ye,
Naebody kens ye
When ye need o’ their
countenence,
naebody kens ye
The crony wha’ stuck
like a burr tae yer side
And vowed wi’ his heart’s
dying blood
tae befriend ye
A five guinea note man
will part ye as wide
as if oceans and deserts
were lying atween ye
It’s the siller that does it,
the siller, the siller
It’s the siller that breaks ye
and maks ye and mends ye
when yer pockets are troom
and nae wab i’ the loom
then tak ye ma word for’t,
naebody kens ye
Naebody kens ye,
Naebody kens ye
Then tak ye ma word for it,
naebody kens ye
But think no I mean
that a’ mankind are sae
It’s the butterfly friends
that misfortune should fear
aye
There are friends worth the
name,
God send they were mae
Wha the caulder the blast,
aye the closer draw near ye
The friends wha can tell us
our fauts tae oor face
And aye tae oor foes
in oor absence defend us
Lecze me oan sic hearts!
O’ life’s pack they’re the ace
Wha scorns tae disown us
when naebody kens us
They bodies ken ye,
They bodies ken ye
Wha scorns tae disown us
when naebody kens us
Sae are ye doin’ ou’t weel?
are ye’ thriving ma man?
Be thankfu’ to fortune
for all that she sends ye
Ye’ll hae plenty o’ friends
fer tae offer a han’
But when ye need o’ their
countenance,
naebody kens ye
I had never heard Naebody Kens Ye sung and could not find any recordings of it, so I plonked out the melody on my piano with next to no finesse and thought the air perfectly complemented the sentiments conveyed in the song. I’ve edited the lyrics slightly as the original had quite a lot more repetition.
When I first read the lyrics, I pictured two old friends meeting in the corner of a busy pub after not having seen each other for some time. It seems like the narrator’s mate has come into good fortune of some kind and there are a few sycophants hanging around. When I sing it, I’m often quite moved and feel a great fondness for the friend checking in. We should all have such a pal! One keeping us grounded and not allowing our heads to be turned by false and fleeting flattery (not easy to say after a night in the pub!).
I found this song in Gleadhill’s ‘Kyle’s Scottish Lyric Gems’ (1880) where it is accompanied by Samuel Barr’s air, though it was first published in a book of poetry without the air in Malone’s own poetry collection, ‘The Sailor’s Dream and Other Poems,’ (1845). Neither of these books give much indication of the writer but Whistle-Binkie Vol I (1890) provides a short profile of Malone that tells us of a quiet thoughtful man who spent most of his short life at sea. Born in Anstruther, Fife he joined the navy age 14. After several years he returned to his family in Rothesay in a state of poor health. In 1836 he moved with them to Greenock where he became a customs officer. From this time he wrote prolifically until he died in 1850.
I had previously thought his work had only been appreciated posthumously but he had a well regarded collection of his poems published in his lifetime in 1845 as mentioned above.