This edition was prepared by Chris Hutchings — free to download, print, rehearse and perform.
Duncan Gray
Staff Notation • Secular, Folk songs
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Duncan Gray by Chris Hutchings — Lyrics
1.
Duncan Gray cam here to woo
(Ha, ha, the wooing o't!)
On blythe Yule nicht when we were fu'
(Ha, ha, the wooing o't!)
Maggie coost her head fu' high,
Look'd asklent and unco skeigh,
Gart poor Duncan stand abeigh
Ha, ha, the wooing o't!
2.
Duncan fleech'd, and Duncan pray'd
(Ha, ha, the wooing o't!)
Meg was deaf as Ailsa Craig
(Ha, ha, the wooing o't!)
Duncan sigh'd baith out and in,
Grat his een baith bleer't an' blin',
Spak o' lowpin o'er a linn
Ha, ha, the wooing o't!
3.
Time and Chance are but a tide
(Ha, ha, the wooing o't!)
Slighted love is sair to bide
(Ha, ha, the wooing o't!)
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About Duncan Gray
Chris Hutchings sets the well-known Scottish folk ballad Duncan Gray for SAB voices. The text, sung here in its original Lowland Scots, tells the humorous tale of a suitor's persistent but ultimately fruitless attempts to woo a proud maiden. Despite Duncan's pleas and tears, Maggie remains unmoved, her aloofness described with vivid rural imagery. The refrain, 'Ha, ha, the wooing o't!', adds a touch of ironic commentary to Duncan's plight. The song builds with the suitor's frustration, culminating in his exasperated dismissal of the haughty 'hizzie'. Hutchings' arrangement captures the narrative spirit and wry humour of this classic folk story.
