Annotation:Duncan Gray (1)
X:3 T:Duncan Gray [1] M:C L:1/8 R:Reel Q:"Brisk" S:McGibbon - Scots Tunes, Book 1 (c. 1746) Z:AK/Fiddler's Companion K:G DGFG AB TF2 | G2 A>c BG G2 :: Bd dc/B/ cc Tc2 | Bc/B/ AG FE D2 | de/d/ cd/c/ Bc/B/ A/(c/TB/A/) | G2 A>c BG G2 :: DG c/(B/A/G/) A/(B/c/A/) TF2 | (G>A/2B/4) (A>B/2c/4) BG G2 :: (Bd) (dg) (ce)(eg) | Bd d(c/B/) (c/B/A/G/) T(FE/D/) | dg ca Bg a/(c'/b/a/) | G2 A/B/c/A/ BG G2 :: (D/G/)(B/G/) (D/G/)(B/G/) (D/A/)(c/A/) D/(A/B/c/) | d/(g/Tf/e/) (d/c/B/A/) BG G2 :: (B/c/d/)B/ G(g/=f/) (e/d/c/B/) Tc2 | (G/F/E/)G/ (c/B/A/G/) (F/G/A/)F/ D(e/f/) | (g/f/e/d/) (e/d/c/B/) (c/B/A/G/) TF(E/D/) | G>B A/B/c/A/ BG G2 :: dgfg ab Tf2 | g>b a>c' bg g2 :: bd' d'c'/b/ c'c' Tc'2 | bc'/b/ ag fe d2 | (3d'dd' (3c'dc' (3bdb (3ad'c' |Tb2 (a/b/c'/)a/ bg g2 :: B/G/D/G/ (B/4c/4d/) T(c/B/) A/F/D/F/ (A/4B/4c/) T(B/A/) | g2 A/B/c/A/ BG G2 :: d/g/T(g/f/4g/4) d/g/B/g/ e/c/g/=f/ Te2 | d/g/T(g/f/4g/4) d/g/B/g/ | A/G/F/E/ D2 | gbac' bd' TF2 | G2 A/B/c/A/ BG G2 :||
DUNCAN GRAY [1]. AKA - "Duncan Grey." English, Scottish; Air, Reel or Slow March: New England, Polka (2/4 time). D Major (Kerr, Miller & Perron, Raven, Winter): C Major (Howe): G Major (Aird, Johnson, McGibbon, O'Farrell): A Major/A Minor (Gow). Standard tuning (fiddle). AAB (Howe, Miller & Perron): AABB (Kerr, Raven, Winter): AABBCCDD (Aird): AABBCCDDEEFFHHGG (O"Farrell): AABBCCDDEEFFGGHHIIJJ (Johnson, McGibbon). David Johnson (1983) thinks that the tune may have originally been an English march in trumpet style, but notes that by 1760 it had Scottish words set to it (describing, somewhat rudely, a country courtship). Alternatively, the antiquarian William Stenhouse (Illustrations, p. 148) reports a tradition that "this lively air was composed by Duncan Gray, a carter or carman in Glasgow, about the beginning of the [18th] century, and that the tune was taken down from his whistling it tow or three times to a musician in that city." Several sets of variations were written for the melody, notably cellist and composer James Oswald's (in his Caledonian Pocket Companion c. 1750) and William McGibbon's (Scots Tunes c. 1755), but Johnson thinks the ones that James Gillespie included in his manuscript collection of 1768 (not written by him) are superior.
Words to the tune were printed by David Herd in his Ancient and Modern Scottish Songs (1776), with a similar set included by Robert Burns in his Merry Muses of Caledonia (1800). The Merry Muses version goes:
Can ye play me Duncan Gray,
Ha, ha, the girdin' o't;
O'er the hills an' far awa,
Ha, ha, ha, the girdin' o't,
Duncan came oor Meg to woo,
Meg was nice an' wadna do,
But like an ither puff'd an' blew
At offer o' the girdin' o't.
Duncan, he cam here again,
Ha, ha, the girdin' o't,
A' was oot, an' Meg her lane,
Ha ha, ha, the girdin' o't;
He kiss'd her butt, he kiss'd her ben,
He bang'd a thing against her wame;
But, troth, I noo forget its name,
But, I trow, she gat the girdin' o't.
She took him tae the cellar then,
Ha, ha the girdin' o't,
To see gif he could do't again,
Ha, ha, ha, the girdin' o't;
He kidd'd her ance, he kiss'd her twice,
An' by the by he kiss'd her thrice
Till deil a mair the thing wad rise
To gie her the lang girdin' o't.
But Duncan took her to his wife,
Ha, ha, the girdin' o't,
To be the comfort o' his life,
Ha, ha, ha, the girdin' o't;
A' noo she scauls baith night an' day,
Except when Duncan's at the play,
An' that's as seldom as he may,
He's weary o' the girdin' o't.
A version of the melody was entered into the mid-19th century music manuscripts of John Roose (1840, Manchester, England) and a shoemaker and violin player William Winter (1774-1861), who lived in West Bagborough in Somerset, southwest England. Their versions are nearly identical.
