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

Back to Deuks Dang o'er My Daddie (The)

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. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. 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. The tune itself may, in fact, be of English origin, where it is known as "Buff Coat Hath No Fellow (The)." 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 (Fiddle Music of Scotland), 1988; No. 296. Kerr (Merry Melodies), vol. 1; No. 13, p. 32. Stewart-Robertson (The Athole Collection), 1884; p. 146. Sweet (Fifer's Delight), 1964/1981; p.

Recorded sources: