I'm thinking, the noo, how gude a thing it was I did not know, when I first quit the pit and got J.C.MacDonald to send me oot, how much there was for me to learn.

I ken it weel the noo--I ken how great a chance it was, in yon early days.
But when an artist's time has come, when he has come to know his audiences, and what they like, and why--then it is different.

And by this time I was a veteran singer, as you micht say.

I'd sung before all sorts of folk.

They'd been quick enough to let me know the things they didn't like.