DAINTY DAVIE (WAS A LAD). Scottish (Originally), Shetlands; Strathspey: Irish, March or Air (4/4 time). F Major (Athole, Honeyman, Skye): G Major (Joyce, Kerr, O'Neill). Standard. AB (Honeyman, Joyce): AAB (Kerr): AABB' (Athole): AABCCD (Gow, Skye): AABBCCDDEE (O'Neill). "This spirited tune was developed from a simple Scottish strain about the end of the 18th century, by O'Farrell, a famous Irish piper well known on the London stage" (O'Neill). "I know nothing about this, farther than that the air and a bit of the song remain in a remote corner of my memory from dim old times" (Joyce). The title appears in Henry Robson's list of popular Northumbrian song and dance tunes, which he published c. 1800. Purser (1992) believes Robert Burns wrecked the words of "Dainty Davie" with successive revisions, attempting to clean them up for George Thompson's publications.
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Dainty Davy was a lad;
He sold the shirt upon his back,
To buy his wife a looking-glass,
To see how nice her beauty was:
So there was Dainty Davy! (Joyce).
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Cooke prints the following words, collected on the island of Whalsay, in Shetland:
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Wis du what I'm telling dee
Boanie Davie, daintie Davie
Wis du what I'm telling dee
Boanie daintie Davie. (Cooke)
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Gow (Complete Repository), Part 1, 1799; pg. 27. Honeyman (Strathspey, Reel and Hornpipe Tutor), 1898; pg. 24. Joyce (Old Irish Folk Music and Song), 1909; No. 91, pg. 47. Kerr (Merry Melodies), Vol. 1; Set 2, No. 5, pg. 4. MacDonald (The Skye Collection), 1887; pg. 143. O'Neill (1915 ed.), 1987; No. 116, pg. 65. Stewart-Robertson (The Athole Collection), 1884; pg. 209.
X:1
T:Dainty Davie
L:1/8
M:C
R:Strathspey
B:The Athole Collection
K:F
d|c>BA>G F<D F2|F>c A/B/c/A/ f>cA>f|c>BA>G F<D F2|f>g a/g/f/e/ d>ef:|
|:c|f<af<a f<a ag/f/|e<g c>g e<g gf/e/|1 f<af<a f<a ag/f/|e>c a/g/f/e/ d>ef:|2
f>ga>g g>fe>c|d>e a/g/f/e/ d>ef||
X:2
T:Dainty Davy was a Lad
L:1/8
M:C
S:Joyce - Old Irish Folk Music
K:G
d>cBA GEE>D|GBBd GBB>d|d>cBA GEE>D|GBBd GBB>f|gefd e2d2||
gbef gbba/g/|fbd>e faa g/f/|gbbg faaf|gefd e2e2||