Annotation:Deuks Dang o'er My Daddie (The)

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DEUKS DANG OWER/O'ER MY DADDY, THE. AKA – "Ducks dang o'er my Dadie (The)." Scottish, English; Jig or Country Dance Tune (6/8 time). England, Northumberland. D Major (most versions): G Major (Wilson). Standard tuning (fiddle). AAB (Wilson): AABB (most versions): AABBCCDDEEFFGGHH (Mulhollan). A slow air version was printed by James Oswald in his Caledonian Pocket Companion, Book 1 (1760, as "The Denkes dang over my Deddie"), followed by a 'Gig' version of the tune that is the jig that is the usual version played. The tune appears in the 1768 (James) Gillespie Manuscript of Perth (as "Ducks dang Over My Dadie"). "The Deuks Dang O'er My Daddy" is a song in Johnson's Scots Musical Museum (vol. 3, 1792), with a lyric by Robert Burns (1759–1796) that begins:

The bairns gat out wi' an unco shout,

The deuks dang o'er my daddie, O! .......... deuk = duck dang = knock
The fien-ma-care, quo' the feirrie auld wife, .... fien-ma-care = no matter
He was but a paidlin' body, O!
He paidles out, and he paidles in,
rn' he paidles late and early, O!
This seven lang years I hae lien by his side,
An' he is but a fusionless carlie, O. .......... fusionless carlie = feeble old man

The title appears in Henry Robson's list of popular Northumbrian song and dance tunes, which he published c. 1800, and "Deuks..." was entered into the 1840 music manuscript collection of multi-instrumentalist John Rook of Waverton, Cumbria. The melody and a verse were inked into the c. 1812 music manuscript collection of Northumbrian musician John Bell [1] (1783–1864). Bell's verse goes:

The Ducks dang o'er my Daddy,

The Ducks dang o'er my Daddy,
Shorn care, let him lie there,
He's a poor bit useless Body.

The tune itself may, in fact, be of English origin, where it is known as "Buff Coat Hath No Fellow (The)," published by John Playford. However, John Glen (Early Scottish Melodies, 1900), concurred with G.F. Graham's opinion that "our Scottish version is much better in melodic form and animation."

Source for notated version:

Printed sources: Aird (Selection of Scotch, English, Irish and Foreign Airs, vol. 1), 1782; No. 68, p. 24. Hunter (The Fiddle Music of Scotland), 1988; No. 296. Kerr (Merry Melodies, vol. 1), c. 1880; No. 13, p. 32. Mulhollan (A Selection of Irish and Scots Tunes), Edinburgh, 1804; p. 18. Oswald (Caledonian Pocket Companion, vol. 1), 1760; p. 1. Stewart-Robertson (The Athole Collection), 1884; p. 146. Sweet (Fifer's Delight), 1964/1981. Wilson (A Companion to the Ballroom), London, 1816; p. 60.

Recorded sources:

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