Miller Tae My Trade

DESCRIPTION: The singer reports, "I am a miller tae my trade... And mony a bag of meal I've made, And mony a lassie I hae laid." He describes one night on which a girl came to his mill and sought his services. (They end up being married)
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1906
KEYWORDS: miller work seduction bawdy marriage sex work
FOUND IN: Britain(England(South),Scotland(Aber)) Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Greig/Duncan7 1489, "I Am a Miller to My Trade" (7 texts, 7 tunes)
Kennedy-FolksongsOfBritainAndIreland 218, "The Buchan Miller" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton-MaritimeFolkSongs, p. 31, "The Miller" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, MILLTRAD
Roud #888
RECORDINGS:
John McDonald, "The Buchan Miller" (on FSB3)
Davie Stewart, "I Am a Miller To My Trade" (on Voice05)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Maid Gaed to the Mill" (theme: sex and a miller; grinding corn as the metaphor) and references there
ALTERNATE TITLES:
The Jolly Miller
File: K218

Go to the Ballad Search form
Go to the Ballad Index Song List

Go to the Ballad Index Instructions
Go to the Ballad Index Bibliography or Discography