Volume II, song 144, page 151 - 'Dusty Miller' - Scanned...
Volume II, song 144, page 151 - 'Dusty Miller' - Scanned from the 1853 edition of the 'Scots Musical Museum', James Johnson and Robert Burns (Edinburgh and London: W. Blackwood & Sons, 1853)
Verse 1: 'Hey, the Dusty Miller, And his dusty coat, He will win a shilling, Or he spend a groat. Dusty was the coat, Dusty was the colour, Dusty was the kiss That I got frae the Miller.'
The 'Scots Musical Museum' is the most important of the numerous eighteenth- and nineteenth-century collections of Scottish song. When the engraver James Johnson started work on the second volume of his collection in 1787, he enlisted Robert Burns as contributor and editor. Burns enthusiastically collected songs from various sources, often expanding or revising them, whilst including much of his own work. The resulting combination of innovation and antiquarianism gives the work a feel of living tradition.
According to Donald A. Low (1991), the words to this particular song were either written, revised or collected by Robert Burns. Although Johnson attributed particular songs in the 'Museum' to Burns, this information has at times been found to be inaccurate. Unlike many of the songs included in the 'Museum', there is little else known about 'Dusty Miller'. It is written from the woman's perspective and tells of a dalliance with the local miller.
Volume II, song 144, page 151 - 'Dusty Miller' - Scanned from the 1853 edition of the 'Scots Musical Museum', James Johnson and Robert Burns (Edinburgh and London: W. Blackwood & Sons, 1853)