Annotation:As I sat at my Spinning-Wheel
X:1 T: A Scotch Song T:As I sat at my Spinning-Wheel M:C L:1/8 R:Air B:Thomas D'Urfey - Wit and Mirth; or, Pills Purge Melancholy vol. 3 (1719, pp. 88-89) Z:AK/Fiddler's Companion K:Bb f|f2d2f3d|(cB) (cd) G3F|GA B2 e2 (dc)|A2c2c3d| efga b3g|(fd) (cB) e3e|d2 gd ^e2 (dc)|(d^e) (f>g) f3 f| (ga) (bg)(gd) (cB)|e2 (dc) A3d|g3f (ed) g3 (cB) |F2B3 B3||
AS I SAT AT MY SPINNING-WHEEL. Scottish, Air (whole time). B Flat Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). One part. The song was old in D'Urfey's time, having been issued on broadsides at least from 1688. It was popular, much imitated, and subsequently produced numerous versions (see note for "annotation:Spinning Wheel (6) (The)" for more information). The broadside version, one of which was called "The Bonny Scot: or, the Yielding Lass" of 1688, "to an Excellent New Tune" (not printed), begins:
As I sat at my spinning-wheel,
a bonny Lad there passed by,
ken’d him round, and I lik’d him well,
geud Faith he had a bonny Eye:
My Heart new panting, ‘gan to feel,
But still I trun’d my Spinning-Wheel.
Most gracefully he did appear,
As he my presence did draw near,
And round about my slender Waste,
He clasp’d his Arms and me embrac’d:
To kiss my Hand he down did kneel,
As I sate at my Spinning-Wheel.
D'Urfey used the same words in his Wit and Mirth.
