The Deil's awa wi' the Exciseman Robert Burns Song Scotland

Tour Scotland travel video of the The Deil's awa wi' the Exciseman song by Robert Burns set to a slide show of some of old Scottish photographs of Dumfries. At the time he wrote the song Burns was himself an exciseman. Like many other talented people Robert Burns did not make his living from his art. One job he had was, with some other excisemen, being sent to watch a suspicious looking boat that arrived in the Solway Firth in South West Scotland. The excisemen saw that this was indeed a smugglers’ vessel and that the crew were many, armed and likely to be dangerous. The excisemen would need more men to catch those on board the boat, so they sent to Dumfries for reinforcements. Burns was left with some men to try to prevent the boat landing or the crew escaping, but he knew they were too few to do this. The messenger to Dumfries took a very long time to come back. One of Burns's friends suggested that he write a song to pass the time. Burns went for a walk on the shingle. When he came back he recited this song. When the reinforcements eventually arrived from Dumfries, Burns was the first to board the smugglers’ boat, sword in hand. The crew were captured and all the arms and stores of the vessel were sold at Dumfries.

The deil cam fiddlin' thro' the town,
And danc'd awa wi' th' Exciseman;
And ilka wife cries, Auld Mahoun,
I wish you luck o' the prize, man.

The deil's awa the deil's awa,
The deil's awa wi' the Exciseman,
He's danc'd awa he's danc'd awa
He's danc'd awa wi' the Exciseman.

We'll mak our maut, and we'll brew our drink,
We'll laugh, sing, and rejoice, man;
And mony braw thanks to the meikle black deil,
That danc'd awa wi' th' Exciseman.

The deil's awa the deil's awa,
The deil's awa wi' the Exciseman,
He's danc'd awa he's danc'd awa
He's danc'd awa wi' the Exciseman.

There's threesome reels, there's foursome reels,
There's hornpipes and strathspeys, man,
But the ae best dance ere came to the Land
Was, the deil's awa wi' the Exciseman.

The deil's awa the deil's awa ,
The deil's awa wi' the Exciseman,
He's danc'd awa he's danc'd awa
He's danc'd awa wi' the Exciseman.

Meaning of Scots words:
ilka means every
Mahoun means devil
maut means malt
reels means a dance using a figure of eight
strathspeys means a dance slower than a reel
ae means one

Robert Burns was born, on the 25 January 1759, two miles south of Ayr, Ayrshire, in Alloway, the eldest of the seven children of William Burnes, a self educated tenant farmer from Dunnottar in the Mearns, and Agnes Broun, the daughter of a Kirkoswald tenant farmer. The only occasion that Robert Burns visited Perth, Perthshire, was towards the end of his 22 day tour of the Highlands during August and September, 1787.

All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.

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