by Patrick Birnie (flourished late 17th - early 18th centuries)
The auld man's mear's dead
Language: Scottish (Scots)
The auld man's mear's dead; The puir body's mear's dead; The auld man's mear's dead, A mile aboon Dundee. There was hay to ca', and lint to lead, A hunder hotts o' muck to spread, And peats and truffs and a' to lead — And yet the jaud to dee! She had the fiercie and the fleuk, The wheezloch and the wanton yeuk; On ilka knee she had a breuk — What ail'd the beast to dee? She was lang-tooth'd and blench-lippit, Heam-hough'd and haggis-fittit, Lang-neckit, chandler-chaftit, And yet the jaud to dee!
About the headline (FAQ)
Confirmed with, The Book of Scottish Song, edited by Alexander Whitelaw, Blackie and Son, Glasgow, 1843, page 128. This is the first version.
Authorship
- by Patrick Birnie (flourished late 17th - early 18th centuries), "The auld man's mear" [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive)
- by Francis George Scott (1880 - 1958), "The auld man's mear's dead", published 1934 [voice and piano], from Scottish lyrics set to music, Book 3, no. 2, Bayley & Ferguson ; note: Scott may have set the other version of this text [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
Another version of this text exists in the database.
Researcher for this text: Iain Sneddon [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website: 2018-11-22
Line count: 16
Word count: 93