Annotation:Miller Boy

Back to Miller Boy

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MILLER BOY. Old-Time, Air (whole time) and listening piece. D Major. DDad tuning (fiddle). A play-party game and song that goes:

Happy is the miller boy that lives by the mill,
The wheel goes around of with a free goodwill.
One hand in the hopper and the other in the sack,
The ladies step forward and the gents step back.

The old-time version is sourced to Oklahoma fiddler Earl Collins, who played it in DDad tuning. It is played at a walking or march tempo, and is similar to "Bonaparte's Retreat (1)".

Source for notated version:

Printed sources: Ford (Traditional Music in America), 1940; p. 254.

Recorded sources:

See also listing at:
Jane Keefer's Folk Music Index: An Index to Recorded Sources [1]
Hear an old-time version on youtube.com [2]
Hear Earl Collins' version at Slippery Hill [3]

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