Annotation:Road to Dundee

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ROAD TO DUNDEE, THE. AKA - "The Road and the Miles to Dundee." Canadian, Scottish; Waltz. Canada, Prince Edward Island. D Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). One part. This irregular (19 measure) tune is a waltz setting of a Scottish air. "The Road to Dundee" was a broadside ballad printed in the latter 19th century, set to the air "Lucy's Flitting." The first stanzas go:

Grim Winter was howlin' o'er hiall and o'er mountain,
And wild was the surge of the dark rolling sea.
When I met a wee lassie, so mornin' at daybrea,
Wha asked me how far was the road to Dundee.

I looked at the lassie, and said, my fair creature,
The miles or the distance I canna weel gie,
But if you'll permit me to gang a wee bittie,
I'll show you the road that rins north north to Dundee.

The song [Roud 2300], conclude David Akinson & Steve Roud (Street Ballads in Ninteenth Century Britain, Ireland, and North Amercica (2016), is derived from an older song called "Grim Winter," by Charles Gray of Anstruther, Fife, first published in 1811. It has been sung to various airs, including the present one.

Additional notes

Source for notated version: - Johnny Morrissey (1913-1994, Newtown Cross, Queens County, Prince Edward Island; late of Vernon River) [Perlman].

Printed sources : - Perlman (The Fiddle Music of Prince Edward Island), 1996; p. 171.

Recorded sources: - Parlophone 7XCE 16419 (45 RPM), Ian Powrie and His Band" (1959. First tune in "Scotish Waltz").