Original Scottish dialect: Standardized English:
Duncan Gray cam here to woo Duncan Gray came here to woo,
(Ha, ha, the wooing o’t!—repeated refrain) (Ha, ha, such was the wooing of it!)
On blythe Yule-Night when we were fou On merry Christmas Even when we were drunk,
Maggie coost her head fu’ high, Maggie cast her head full high, (raised her head)
Look’d asklent and unco skeigh, Looked askance (scornfully) and very skittish,
Gart poor Duncan stand abeigh – Made poor Duncan stand off
Duncan fleech’d, and Duncan pray’d Duncan wheedled/beseeched, and prayed
Meg was deaf as Ailsa Craig Meg was deaf as Ailsa Craig (a rocky island)
Duncan sigh’d baith out and in, Duncan sighed both out and in,
Grat his een baith bleer’t an’ blin’, Wept his eyes both bleary and blind,
Spak o’ lowpin o’er a linn – Spoke of leaping over a waterfall
Time and Chance are but a tide Time and Chance change like the tides,
Slighted love is sair to bide Slighted love is sore/unlikely to endure
‘Shall I like a fool,’ quoth he, “Shall I like a fool,” said he,
‘For a haughty hizzie die? For a haughty hussy die?
She may gae to – France for me! -* She may go to France* as far as I’m concerned!
How it comes, let doctors tell How it happens/happened, let doctors explain:
Meg grew sick, as he grew hale Meg became sick as he became well.
Something in her bosom wrings, Something in her heart was wrung with sorrow
For relief a sigh she brings, She sighed for relief,
And O! her een they spak sic things! And O! her eyes they spoke such things!
Duncan was a lad o’ grace Duncan was a lad with a kind heart, and
Maggie was a piteous case Maggie was a piteous/pitiable case.
Duncan could na be her death, Duncan could not be the cause of her death,
Swelling pity smoor’d his wrath; Swelling pity smothered his wrath;
Now they’re crouse and canty baith Now they’re proud and jolly both.
(from the music lyrics website The Mudcat Café, with additions by Debi Simons)
*Duncan is really telling Maggie to go to hell. Scotland had a long, complicated relationship with France; by the time Burns wrote his poem the historical alliance between the two countries had largely soured and Scotland had become part of Great Britain. So it would make sense that telling someone in 18th century Scotland to “go to France” would be seen as an insult. (Fans of Gone With the Wind may remember that Scarlett O’Hara tells Rhett Butler that he can “go to – Halifax” when she is very angry at him; another obvious version of “go to hell.”)
The lyrics are by Robert Burns, who lived a sadly short life from 1758-1796 and is known as the national poet of Scotland. His lighter poetry is usually written in the Scots dialect, as is seen in “Duncan Gray”; his more political works are in standard English. Burns, said in a letter that, “Duncan Gray is that kind of light-horse gallop of an air which precludes sentiment. The ludicrous is its ruling feature.” You can figure out some of the dialect if you squint hard enough. So, for instance, “fou” echoes “foolish,” a good description for someone who’s drunk, and “coost” echoes “cast.” But other words are simply opaque: “Crouse” and “canty” means “proud” and ”jolly”? Hmmm. As for how authentic the pronunciation should be, that will have to be left to the director of any particular group.
Once you’ve untangled the words, the story resolves into a fairly classic one: first Duncan Gray tries to flirt with someone named Maggie at a Christmas Eve party, but she will have none of it. So he weeps and sighs, and even threatens to kill himself by leaping over a waterfall. But, as the song says, the passage of time and events dulls heartbreak, and Duncan decides that he’s no longer interested. At that point Maggie changes her mind, and now she’s the pitiable lovelorn one, even to the point of death. Well, Duncan can’t bear to be the cause of that! So, in the end, they’re happily united. I don’t know, Duncan! Maggie sounds like a bit of a manipulator to me!
As for the tune, “it is generally reported, that this lively air was composed by Duncan Gray, a carter or carman in Glasgow, about the beginning of last century [that is, around 1700] and that the tune was taken down from his whistling it two or three times to a musician in that city.” (from The Scottish Country Dancing Dictionary) You can decide for yourself how reliable this “general reporting” is; perhaps it’s in the same category as today’s “people are saying.”
Here are two delightful performance videos of the song. The first is by a couple of Scottish singers who give the dialect full flavor:
And a more classical version, with the music arranged by none other than Ludwig von Beethoven, that well-known Scottish composer:
© Debi Simons
