> Folk Music > Songs > The Maid Gaed tae the Mill

The Maid Gaed tae the Mill

[ Roud 2575 ; G/D 7:1436 ; Ballad Index RcTMGTTM ; Mudcat 16135 ; trad.]

Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger sang The Maid Gaed tae the Mill in 1956 on their Tradition album Classic Scots Ballads and in 1968 on their Argo album The Wanton Muse. A live recording from Gettysburg on 3 November 1982 can be found on his album Black and White. He commented in the first album’s notes:

This song belongs to the end of the first quarter of an all-male drinking session or at the end of the third quarter of a mixed party. It has a nice blend of sly bawdiness calculated to make the not-so-young remember incidents they thought they had forgotten. Young people tend to observer their elders with new respect after hearing songs such as this. I learned it from my father.

Cilla Fisher and Artie Trezise sang The Maid Gaed tae the Mill in 1976 on their eponymous album Cilla Fisher and Artie Trezise and in 1979 on their album For Foul Day and Fair.

Palaver (Aileen Carr, Chris Miles, Gordeanna McCulloch, and Maureen Jelks) sang The Maid Gaed tae the Mill on the 1994 Greentrax anthology of songs from the Tron Tavern, Edinburgh, Ceilidh House Sessions.

The Clutha sang The Maid Gaed tae the Mill in 1996 on their CD On the Braes.

Lyrics

Ewan MacColl sings The Maid Gaed tae the Mill

The maid gaed to the mill by nicht,
Hey, hey, sae wanton!
The maid gaed to the mill by nicht,
Hey, sae wanton she!
She swore by a’ the stars sae bricht
That she should hae her corn ground,
She should hae her corn ground
Mill and multure free

Then oot and cam’ the miller’s man,
Hey, hey, sae wanton!
Oot and cam’ the miller’s man,
Hey, sae wanton he!
He swore he’d do the best he can
For to get her corn ground,
For to get her corn ground
Mill and multure free

He put his hand about her neck,
Hey, hey, sae wanton!
He put his hand about her neck,
Hey, sae wanton he!
He threw her doon upon a sack
And there she got her corn ground,
There she got her corn ground
Mill and multure free.

When other maids gaed oot to play,
Hey, hey, sae wanton!
Other maids gaed oot to play,
Hey, sae wantonly!
She sighed and sobbed and wouldna stay
Because she’d got her corn ground,
Because she’d got her corn ground
Mill and multure free.

When forty weeks were past and gane,
Hey, hey, sae wanton!
When forty weeks were past and gane,
Hey, sae wantonly!
This lassie had a braw lad bairn
Because she got her corn ground,
Because she got her corn ground
Mill and multure free.

Her mither bid her cast it oot,
Hey, hey, sae wanton!
Her mither bid her cast it oot,
Hey, sae wantonly!
It was the miller’s dusty clout
For getting’ a’ her corn ground,
Gettin’ a’ her corn ground
Mill and multure free.

Her faither bade her keep it in,
Hey, hey, sae wanton!
Her faither bade her keep it in,
Hey, sae wantonly!
It was the chief o’ a’ her kin
Because she’d got her corn ground,
Because she’d got her corn ground
Mill and multure free.