Robert Bremner (arr.)
(1713 - 1789)

Old Sir Simon the king (with variations)
(Vn.Vc.Kbd.)
Score, part(s) and cover page (PDF), €0.50 for bundled copies   Buy this item

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One night it entered my mind to wander up and down
No company could I find 'til I came to the Rose and Crown
The barman was sick with the mumps, the maid was ill at her ease
The tapster was down in the dumps: they were all of one disease:
For drink shall make a man drunk, drunk shall make a man dry,
Dry shall make a man sick and sick shall make a man die
Says old Sir Simon the king, old Sir Simon the king
With his ale dropped toes and his malmsey nose
Sing hey ding ding-a ding ding


The tune's first appearance in print was in the 6th (1679) edition of the "Dancing Master" but it was first printed in its prevalent form as a set of variations with a ground bass in "Musick's Handmaid", 1689, attributed to Henry Purcell.

The current set was published in Bremner's "A Curious Collection of Scots Tunes", Edinburgh, 1759. Under no circumstances should this work be confused with James Oswald's earlier "A Collection of Curious Scots Tunes" (although Oswald as a victim of passing-off holds a little poetic justice).