What is a "tramp's whisker"?

[l***@gmail.com]

To see Laura Smith's own explanation of the lyrics, please clock on this link and go down to the bottom of the discussion.....


http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=24235

[p***@gmail.com]

In Laura Smith's "My Bonny" (a marvelous, powerful song, BTW) is the line
"I've got a tramp's whisker that tells me you still care."
It's driving me nuts! I could swear I've come across the term "tramp's
whisker" somewhere before, but I can't think where. Ideas, anyone?
Please?
/kenw
Ken Wallewein
Calgary, Alberta

I prefer "tramp's whisper." The poetic possibilities are enormous, including a lonely heart carrying the heavy weight of broken love who encounters one suffering even more than she. When our lonely heart bends to deposit a coin in the cup of the tramp, or whatever scenario we choose, he looks up to catch her eye, at which point she hears his whisper inside her head and she knows that 'he still cares.' don't ya just love poetry!

[h***@ccanoemail.ca]

Post by p***@gmail.com

In Laura Smith's "My Bonny" (a marvelous, powerful song, BTW) is the line
"I've got a tramp's whisker that tells me you still care."
It's driving me nuts! I could swear I've come across the term "tramp's
whisker" somewhere before, but I can't think where. Ideas, anyone?
Please?
/kenw
Ken Wallewein
Calgary, Alberta

I prefer "tramp's whisper." The poetic possibilities are enormous,
including a lonely heart carrying the heavy weight of broken love
who encounters one suffering even more than she.
When our lonely heart bends to deposit a coin in the cup of the tramp,
or whatever scenario we choose, he looks up to catch her eye,
at which point she hears his whisper inside her head and she knows
that 'he still cares.' don't ya just love poetry!

... some discussion here :

https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=24235

John T.

[j***@gmail.com]

Post by h***@ccanoemail.ca

Post by p***@gmail.com

In Laura Smith's "My Bonny" (a marvelous, powerful song, BTW) is the line
"I've got a tramp's whisker that tells me you still care."
It's driving me nuts! I could swear I've come across the term "tramp's
whisker" somewhere before, but I can't think where. Ideas, anyone?
Please?
/kenw
Ken Wallewein
Calgary, Alberta

I prefer "tramp's whisper." The poetic possibilities are enormous,
including a lonely heart carrying the heavy weight of broken love
who encounters one suffering even more than she.
When our lonely heart bends to deposit a coin in the cup of the tramp,
or whatever scenario we choose, he looks up to catch her eye,
at which point she hears his whisper inside her head and she knows
that 'he still cares.' don't ya just love poetry!

https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=24235
John T.

You have to be a certain age to know what a tramp's whisker is. I'm 65 and happen to know. When I was a child my brother showed me how to make crystal radio. It involved a piece of galena, a mineral that could be used to make a primitive semiconductor, and a very fine wire - the finer the better. You would attach one end of a high impedance headphone to the wire (the ones that airmen used in the second world war) and the other end to the crystal. As you dragged the fine wire over the crystal, you would pick up radio stations. Voila, a crystal radio.

To the point. The fine wire was referred to as a "tramp's whisker"

If I remember correctly; "I have a tramp's whisker that says you still care". It' is a very poetic statement! She had a means of reading his hidden thoughts from a distance, like a radio signal.

John W. Ottawa

[j***@gmail.com]

You have to be a certain age to know what a tramp's whisker is. I'm 65 and happen to know. When I was a child my brother showed me how to make crystal radio. It involved a piece of galena, a mineral that could be used to make a primitive semiconductor, and a very fine wire - the finer the better. You would attach one end of a high impedance headphone to the wire (the ones that airmen used in the second world war) and the other end to the crystal. As you dragged the fine wire over the crystal, you would pick up radio stations. Voila, a crystal radio.

To the point. The fine wire was referred to as a "tramp's whisker"

If I remember correctly; "I have a tramp's whisker that says you still care". It' is a very poetic statement! She had a means of reading his hidden thoughts from a distance, like a radio signal.

John W. Ottawa

[Ian Jackson]

Post by j***@gmail.com
You have to be a certain age to know what a tramp's whisker is. I'm 65
and happen to know. When I was a child my brother showed me how to make
crystal radio. It involved a piece of galena, a mineral that could be
used to make a primitive semiconductor, and a very fine wire - the
finer the better. You would attach one end of a high impedance
headphone to the wire (the ones that airmen used in the second world
war) and the other end to the crystal. As you dragged the fine wire
over the crystal, you would pick up radio stations. Voila, a crystal radio.
To the point. The fine wire was referred to as a "tramp's whisker"
If I remember correctly; "I have a tramp's whisker that says you still
care". It' is a very poetic statement! She had a means of reading his
hidden thoughts from a distance, like a radio signal.
John W. Ottawa

In the UK (and almost certainly worldwide, including the USA), this is
known as a 'cat's whisker' (which may, or may not, be a more accurate
description). I've never heard of the term 'tramp's whisker'.