Folk and Traditional Song Lyrics:
Hey the Dusty Miller
Hey the Dusty Miller
Hey the Dusty Miller
Hey the dusty Miller,
And his dusty coat;
He will win a shilling
Or he spend a groat:
Dusty was the coat,
Dusty was the colour;
Dusty was the kiss
That I got frae the Miller.
Hey the dusty Miller,
And his dusty sack;
Leeze me on the calling
Fills the dusty peck:
Fills the dusty peck,
Brings the dusty siller;
I wad gie my coatie
For the dusty Miller.
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SMM II (1788), 151 (no. 144), Burns's extension of a
fragment in Herd's MSS. (ed. Hecht, 142), which is
source for SC (148, no. 267): O the dusty miller, etc.,
with "He will spend a shilling ere he win a groat",
which is reversed in Burns's text, perhaps because of
the legendary greed of the miller. SMM text in Buchan
101 SS (1962), 134, with music from Maver's Genuine
Scottish Melodies, with variant in bar 2: t, r r f m r
for SMM's t, r r m r d). See also ODNR 307 (no. 351).
The air, Dusty Miller, is (Stenhouse) in the Crockat
MS., 1709; certainly in Walsh (Compleat County Dancing
Master [1718], and The Lady's Banquet). In the Blaikie
MS. (1692) occurs Binny's Jig, which is similar, but in
6/8 (as opposed to 9/8) time; see Glen ESM 41-42;
Chappell PMOT 608. Gillespie MS. (1768), no. 91; Bremner's
Reels (1758), 27. Cf. Kinsley Burns no. 201; note, 1264.
Another song (to a 9/8 version of the tune) is "Andrew
Carr", q.v.
WBO
OCT98