Page:The Book of Scottish Song.djvu/48

30

I.

[ are various readings of this old doggrel. Part of it can be traced in Bishop Percy's MS. as far back as 1560. We give here, first, the version which Burns furbished up for Johnson's Museum. Miss Stephens, we believe, has the praise or blame of introducing the tune, and a modified version of the words, into fashionable society more than twenty years ago.]

to you, kimmer,

And how do ye do?

Hiccup, quo' kimmer,

The better that I'm fou.

We're a' noddin',

Nid, nid, noddin',

We're a' noddin',

At our house at hame.

Kate sits i' the neuk,

Suppin' hen broo;

Deil tak' Kate,

An' she be na noddin' too!

We're a' noddin', &c.

How's a' wi' you, kimmer,

And how do ye fare?

A pint o' the best o't,

And twa pints mair.

We're a' noddin', &c.

How's a' wi' you, kimmer,

And how do ye thrive?

How mony bairns ha'e ye?

Quo' kimmer, I ha'e five.

We're a' noddin', &c.

Are they a' Johnny's

Eh! atweel na:

Twa o' them were gotten

When Johnny was awa'.

We're a' noddin', &c.