Annotation:Willie Brew'd a Peck o' Maut
X:1 C:Page 20 T:Willy Brew'd a Peck o' Maut. MBe.40 A:England;Cumbria;Towcett B:Matthew Betham MS, Towcett Cumbria, 1815 Z:VMP - Hugh Taylor, 2012 T:Miss Forbes' Farewell to Banff,aka. MBe.40 T:Bill Halls #2,aka. MBe.40 M:C L:1/8 Q:1/2=100 R: K:G V:1 clef=treble name="1." [V:1] GA|B2 Bd cBAG|B2 d2 e2 g2|d2 de dBAG|B2 A2 A2 GA| BABd cBAG|B2 d2 e2 g2|d2 de dBAG|B2 G2 G2:| |:ef|gega gfed|efge edcB|c2 ce cBAG|B2 A2 A2 "crots in MS"G/A/| BABd cBAG|"^Qu's in MS"B2 d2 e2 g2|"^NB3"d2 de cBAG|B2 G2 G2:|
WILLIE BREW'D A PECK O' MAUT.' AKA and see "Bill Hall's (2)," "Miss Forbes' Farewell to Banff." Scottish, Air (whole time). E Flat Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AB. The words are by poet Robert Burns (1759-1796), but the tune was composed by his friend Allan Masterton. It was written 1789 in commemoration of an event in the Scottish Borders town of Moffat, a convivial meeting that took place between Burns, William Nicol, of the High School, Edinburgh, and Allan Masterton, another school-master, and musical amateur. Burns wrote:
The air is Masterton's the song mine. The occasion of it was this :- Mr William Nicol, of the High School, Edinburgh, during the autumn vacation being at Moffat, honest Allan - who was at that time on a visit to Dalswinton - and I went to pay Nicol a visit. We had such a joyous meeting, that Mr Masterton and I agreed, each in our own way, that we should celebrate the business.
The first stanza and chorus go:
Willie brewed a peck o' maut
And Rab and Alan came to pree
Three blyther lads that lee-lang nicht
Ye wadna found in Christendie
Chorus:
We are nae fu', we're nae that fu',
But just a drappie in oor e'e
The cock may craw, the day may daw
But aye we'll taste the barley bree.
Lockhart has pronounced this "the best of all Burns's bacchanalian pieces."
