It was
composed on old grumbling Peter Anderson, the gardener of King's Street,
a character still remembered in Paisley:--
"Wi' girnin' and chirmin',
His days they hae been spent;
When ither folk right thankfu' spoke,
He never was content."
Along with poetry Tannahill early cultivated the kindred arts of music
and song; a mere youth, he occasionally earned the payment of ten
shillings for playing on the fife at the Greenock parades; he afterwards
became eminent for his skill in the use of the flute. Having completed
his education at school, which consisted of instruction in the
elementary branches, he became apprenticed to a cotton-weaver.
Collecting old or obscure airs, he began to adapt to them suitable
words, which he jotted down as they occurred, upon a rude writing-desk
he had attached to his loom. His spare hours were spent in the general
improvement of his mind. For a period of two years at the commencement
of the century, he prosecuted his handicraft occupation at Bolton in
England. Returning to Paisley in the spring of 1802, he was offered the
situation of overseer of a manufacturing establishment, but he preferred
to resume the labours of the loom.
Hitherto Tannahill had not dreamt of becoming known as a song-writer; he
cultivated his gift to relieve the monotony of an unintellectual
occupation, and the usual auditor of his lays was his younger brother
Matthew, who for some years was his companion in the workshop.
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