Annotation:Willie Brew'd a Peck o' Maut
X:1 C:Page 20 T:Willy Brew'd a Peck o' Maut. MBe.40 A:England;Cumbria;Towcett B:Matthew Betham MS, Towcett Cumbria, 1815 Z:VMP - Hugh Taylor, 2012 T:Miss Forbes' Farewell to Banff,aka. MBe.40 T:Bill Halls #2,aka. MBe.40 M:C L:1/8 Q:1/2=100 R: K:G V:1 clef=treble name="1." [V:1] GA|B2 Bd cBAG|B2 d2 e2 g2|d2 de dBAG|B2 A2 A2 GA| BABd cBAG|B2 d2 e2 g2|d2 de dBAG|B2 G2 G2:| |:ef|gega gfed|efge edcB|c2 ce cBAG|B2 A2 A2 "crots in MS"G/A/| BABd cBAG|"^Qu's in MS"B2 d2 e2 g2|"^NB3"d2 de cBAG|B2 G2 G2:|
WILLIE BREW'D A PECK O' MAUT.' AKA and see "Bill Hall's (2)," "Miss Forbes' Farewell to Banff." Scottish, Air or Polka (whole time). E Flat Major (Davidson, Manson): D Major (Harding, Kennedy). Standard tuning (fiddle). AB: AABB (Harding) The words are by poet Robert Burns (1759-1796), but the tune was composed by his friend Allan Masterton. It was written 1789 in commemoration of an event in the Scottish Borders town of Moffat, a convivial meeting that took place between Burns, William Nicol, of the High School, Edinburgh, and Allan Masterton, another school-master, and musical amateur. Burns wrote:
The air is Masterton's the song mine. The occasion of it was this :- Mr William Nicol, of the High School, Edinburgh, during the autumn vacation being at Moffat, honest Allan - who was at that time on a visit to Dalswinton - and I went to pay Nicol a visit. We had such a joyous meeting, that Mr Masterton and I agreed, each in our own way, that we should celebrate the business.
The first stanza and chorus go:
Willie brewed a peck o' maut
And Rab and Alan came to pree
Three blyther lads that lee-lang nicht
Ye wadna found in Christendie
Chorus:
We are nae fu', we're nae that fu',
But just a drappie in oor e'e
The cock may craw, the day may daw
But aye we'll taste the barley bree.
Lockhart has pronounced this "the best of all Burns's bacchanalian pieces."
The melody is apparently played as a polka by New Brunswick session musicians.
