Open downloadable pdf file: The_Old_Grey_Duck
Dialect Terms:
Beels – Beak of a bird
Clunk – To swallow
The Old Grey Duck was published in Ralph Dunstan’s in Cornish Dialect & Folk Songs, Ralph Dunstan,Cornish Dialect and Folk Songs, (Truro, Jordan’s Bookshop, 1932) where he says “This song is known in all parts of West Cornwall, and is sung to various tunes – mostly well-known hymn-tunes. Verses 2 and 3 are reconstructed from fragments.” Here the tune is shared with the carol ‘The Seven Joys of Mary.’ It is also related to the dance tune “Forty Thieves” from the Manuscript of John Old, Cornish Dancing Master (Mike O’Connor and Alison Davey, Dancing Above Par, Lingham House, 2006) .The song was brought to a wide audience by Brenda Wootton in the 1970s and 1980s when she regularly included it in both her Cornish “Folk Club” repertoire and her international concerts. The version given here is from the “Sengen Fiddee