Title: My Wife’s a Wanton, Wee Thing
First line: My wife’s a wanton, wee thing,
Performer: Davidona Pittock
Source: SMM 217
James Kinsley speculated that the second half of this song was probably by Burns, who he believed had added to what was an existing traditional piece, collected by David Herd. This recording is of the song published in SMM – Burns produced an alternative lyric, ‘My Love’s a Winsome Wee Thing’, for Thomson. Writing of the air to Thomson, Burns commented, ‘There is a peculiar rhythmus in many of our airs, a necessity of adapting syllables to the emphasis, or what I would call, the feature notes, of the tune, that cramps the Poet, & lays him under almost insuperable difficulties.’
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My Wife’s a Wanton, Wee Thing (390 downloads)Recorded at The Green Door studio in Glasgow, 2016 (engineer: Sam Smith).