18. Bonny Kate and Davy
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No. 18.
Bonny Kate and Davy
A loving couple met one day, Bonny Kate and Davy
Bonny Kate and Davy, A loving couple met one day both together to sport and play
And for to pass the time away he showd her little Davy.
He took her to his father’s Barn Bonny Kate and Davy
He took her to his father’s Barn there he pulld out his long concern[?]
And it was as long —— as this my arm,
And he called it little Davy.
He took [her] to the River side Bonny Kate and Davy
He took her to the rivers side and there he laid her legs so wide
And on her belly he did ride,
And he whip’d in little Davy.
He took her &c —— to several places —
When forty weeks were come and gone Bonny Kate and Davy
When forty weeks were come and gone — &c
———————————
She was delivered of a son and she call’d it little Davy.
Annotations
This song is a variant of the well known song "Dainty Davie". The original tune appeared in Playford's Dancing Master (1651). The tune was later used for a satire directed against Scottish Covenanters during the the 17th century rebellions. The target of "Dainty Davy" was the preacher David Williamson, the minister of St Cuthbert's Church (1683-1706), who was married seven times.
The story of David Williamson, as it was produced in Gilbert Crokatt's The Scotch Presbyterian Eloquence (London: Richard Baldwin, 1748) was as follows:
"A party of King Charles the Second's guards being sent to apprehend Mr David Williamson, one of the most eloquent of their ministers now in Edinburgh, for the frequent rebellion and treason he preached then at field meetings; and the party having surrounded the house where he was, a zealous lady, mistress of the house, being very solicitous to conceal him, rose in all haste from her bed, where she left her daughter, of about eighteen years of age; and having dressed up the holy man's head with some of her own night-cloaths, she wittily advised him to take her place in the warm bed with her girl; to which he modestly and readily consented; and knowing well how to employ his time, especially upon such an extraordinary call, to propagate the image of the party, while the mother, to divert the troopers enquiry, was treating them with strong drink in the parlour, he to express his gratitude, applies himself, with extraordinary kindness, to the daughter; who finding him like to prove a very useful man in his generation, told her mother she would have him for a husband: to which the mother, though otherwise unwilling, yet, for concealing the scandal, out of love to the cause, consented, when the mystery of the iniquity was wholly disclosed to her." (12-13)
An early version of "Dainty Davy" appears in David Herd Ancient and Modern Scottish Songs, Heroic Ballads etc. 2 vols (Edinburgh: John Wotherspoon, 1776) II.215.
Robert Burns produced three versions of "Dainty Davy", including one relatively respectable one which was included in James Johnson's Scot's Musical Museum (Edinburgh: Johnson & Co., 1787-1803), a much bawdier one, which appeared in The Merry Muses of Caledonia (privately printed, 1799). The tune Burns uses is different to the one in Playford's Dancing Master. Burns's tune was also known as The Gardener's March.
It is often speculated that Burns himself wrote the bawdy version that is found in the Merry Muses. This is complicated, though, both by Place's recollection and by another version that was printed in The Shepherd's Son's Garland (Sheffield, Printed for John Garnet, n.d.) which I reproduce below. A copy of this version can be found in the Garland collection of James Boswell and his sons in the Harvard University Library.
A Loving Couple met one Day,
Kate and Davy, Kate and Davy,
A Loving Couple met one Day,
Bonny Kate and Davy
A Loving Couple met one Day,
And as they did together play,
Come let us pass the Day away,
As he whips in little Davy.
CHORUS
He wee'd her o'er the Curl'd Pole,
O my Davy, dainty Davy,
He wee'd her o'er the Curl'd Pole,
Because he was her Davy,
He was her Love both late and soon
And on her fiddle play'd a Tune,
With her Fiddle Diddle,
He took her o'er the Water wide,
O my Davy, dainty Davy,
He took her o'er the Water wide,
Because he was her Davy,
He took her from the Water wide,
And there he laid her Legs aside
And on her Belly he did ride,
And he whipt in little Davy.
He took her in her Father's Land,
O my Davy, dainty Davy,
He took her in her Father's Land,
And there he made her a Bend of Sand,
He put a stiff Thing in her Hand,
And whipt in little Davy.
He took her into her Father's Pease,
Oh my Davy, dainty Davy,
He took her into her Father's Pease,
Because he was her Davy,
He took her into her Father's Pease,
And down among the Cherry Trees,
And there he crept between her Knees,
And Whipt in little Davy.
He took her in her Father's Barn,
O my Davy, dainty Davy,
He took her into her Father's Barn,
Because he was her Davy,
He took her into her Father's Barn,
And vow'd he would do her no harm,
There he mow'd o'er the Corn,
And whipt in little Davy.
He took her on her Father's Rye,
O my Davy, dainty Davy,
He took her on her Father's Rye,
Because he was her Davy,
He took her on her Father's Rye,
And there he got a little Boy,
And then what need she to cry, &c.
The boy began to kick and jump, &c.
And she began to curse her Rump, &c.
For playing with her Davy, &c.
Another version of this song is recorded by Peter Buchan; see Murray Shoolbraid, The High Kilted Muse: Peter Buchan and his Secret Songs of Silence (University Press of Mississippi, 2010) pp. 70-72.
