A bit of Banter: 4- Dainty Davie

There’s no fool like an old fool, they say, so what happens when three oul’ coots (plus a middle-aged son) gather together to make music? The following posts may enlighten you as to the question just posed -and may also, perhaps, enrage or entertain. Anything’s better than a yawn, I guess. These songs were the result of a few sessions around a table laden with alcoholic beverages of various kinds. Plonked in the centre of the table was first a laptop with built-in mic, and later, an iPadPro with attached mic that somehow survived the knocks and spillages that were part and parcel of the deal.

Song 4: The song dates to the middle of the 17th Century and it concerns the much-married minister of St Cutbert’s Church in Edinburgh- one David Williamson. At one point he was being hunted by English dragoons and, a guest of landowner-sympathisers, he was put in bed with the 18-year old daughter by her mother in an effort to hide him. The Mum returned downstairs where she plied the soldiers with liquor to deflect their ardour in searching for the minister. Williamson repaid this act hospitality and concealment by becoming intimate with the daughter. This gallant was then required to marry the saucy young girl. The song is popular among both Scottish and Irish folk-singers. I think the lyrics of this version are by Robert Burns. This song is part of our current repertoire in our monthly concerts at The Penrith Gaels in outer-western Sydney. P.S. I am happy to acknowledge the copyright owner of the photo above as ValentyneDreams who has graciously consented to this photograph being used as an visual introduction to this brief gloss on the song.