Looks like we could stand to do some more research on this. Here's the Traditional Ballad Index entry on the song:

Road to Dundee, The

DESCRIPTION: "Cauld wind was howling o'er moor and o'er mountain" when the singer meets a girl asking her way to Dundee. He says he can't easily tell her, but will show her the way. As they approach the town, they exchange tokens and part. And no, they *don't* marry
AUTHOR: see NOTES
EARLIEST DATE: 1906 (Greig/Duncan5)
KEYWORDS: travel courting
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber)) Ireland Canada(Newf,Ont)
REFERENCES (9 citations):
Greig-FolkSongInBuchan-FolkSongOfTheNorthEast #51, p. 2, "The Road to Dundee" (1 text)
Greig/Duncan5 971, "The Road to Dundee" (7 texts plus a fragmentary text from Greig on p. 600, 4 tunes)
Ord-BothySongsAndBallads, pp. 152-153, "The Road to Dundee" (1 text, 1 tune)
Gatherer-SongsAndBalladsOfDundee 63, "The Road tae Dundee" (1 text, 2 tunes)
OLochlainn-IrishStreetBallads 95, "Sweet Carnloch Bay" (1 text, 1 tune)
Bennett/Downey-JeromeJustOneMoreSong 7, pp. 83-85, "The Road to Dundee" (1 text)
Fowke-TraditionalSingersAndSongsFromOntario 52, "The Road to Dundee" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, ROADDUND* RDUND2
ADDITIONAL: Chris Wright, "'Forgotten Broadsides and the Song Tradition of the Scots Travellers" -- essay found in David Atkinson and Steve Roud, Editors, _Street Ballads in Nineteenth-Century Britain, Ireland, and North America: The Interface between Print and Oral Tradition_, Ashgate, 2014, pp. 93-98, "The Road and the Miles to Dundee" (copy of a broadside print); "Road to Dundee" (copy of a broadside print); "(The Road to Dundee)"; "Grim WInter (1811)"; "Grim Winter (1841)" (3 texts plus the broadside prints)
Roud #2300
RECORDINGS:
Jerome Downey, "The Road to Dundee" (on NFJDowney01)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Lass o' Glenshee" (tune, per Greig)
NOTES [58 words]: OLochlainn-IrishStreetBallads lists the author of this as "Mackay," but Chris Wright says that Charles Gray of Anstruther published his earliest text of "Grim Winter" in 1811. Wright observes that Gray's song -- clearly an art song -- was very flowery, so someone (maybe even someone named Mackay) might have pruned the shrubbery along the way. - RBW
Last updated in version 4.5
File: Ord152

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The Ballad Index Copyright 2024 by Robert B. Waltz and David G. Engle.

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DT Version:
ROAD TAE DUNDEE

D G D
Cold winter was turnin' o'er moor and o'er mountain
G D E7 A7
And wild was the surge on the dark rollin' sea
D G D
When I met aboot daybreak a bonnie young lassie
G D A7 D
That asked me the road and the miles tae Dundee

I said, "My young lassie, I canna weel tell ye
The road and the distance I ne'er can weel gauge
But if ye'll permit me tae gang a wee bittie
I'll show ye the road and the miles tae Dundee

At once she consented and gave me her air-m [arm
Nae a word did I speir wham that lassie might be [spare whom
She appeared like an angel in feature and for-m
As she walked by my side on the road tae Dundee

At length with the howe of Strathmartine behind us
[hollow of the Martin River valley]
The spires o' the toon in full full view we could see
She said, "Gentle sir, I can never forget ye
For showin' me so far on the road tae Dundee.

This ring and this purse please accept as a token
And surely there's somethin' that ye can gi'e me,
That in years to come I'll the laddie remember
Who showed me the road and the miles to Dundee?"

I took the gold pin frae the scarf on my bosom,
And said, "Tak' ye this, in remembrance o' me",
And bravely I kissed the sweet lips o' the lassie
Ere I pairted wi' her on the road tae Dundee

or:
(So I took the gowd pin frae the scarf on my bosom
And said "Keep ye this in remembrance o' me
So in times to come ye'll the laddie remember
That walked by your side on the road tae Dundee)

So here's tae the lassie, I ne'er will forget her
Tae ilk a young laddie that's list'nin' tae me
Never be sweir to convoy a young lassie
Though it's only to show her the road tae Dundee

@Scottish @love
From Gavin Anderson
filename[ ROADDUND
TUNE FILE: ROADDUND
CLICK TO PLAY
RPf, JB

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ROAD TO DUNDEE

1. Cold winter was howlin' o'er moorland and mountain
And wild was the surge of the dark rolling sea
When I met about daybreak a bonnie young lassie
Who asked me the road and the miles to Dundee.

2. Says I, "My young lassie, I canna weel tell ye,
The road and the distance I canna weel gie,
But if you'll permit me to gang a wee bittie,
I'll show you the road and the miles to Dundee."

3. The lassie consented and gie me her airm
Not a word did I speir wha the lassie micht be
She appeared like an angel in feature and form
As she walked by my side on the road to Dundee.

4. At length wi' the howe o' Strathmartine behind us
The spires o' the toon in full view we could see,
She said, "Gentle sir, I can never forget ye
For showin' me so far on the road to Dundee.

5. This ring and this purse please accept as a token
And surely there's somethin' that ye can gi'e me,
That in years to come I'll the laddie remember
Who showed me the road and the miles to Dundee?"

6. I took the gold pin frae the scarf on my bosom,
And said, "Tak' ye this, in remembrance o' me",
And bravely I kissed the sweet lips o' the lassie
And I pairted frae her on the road to Dundee.

7. So here's tae the lassie; I canna forget her,
And ilka young laddie wha's listenin' to me,
O never be sweir to convey a young lassie,
Though it's only to show her the road to Dundee.

from the singing of Murray Shoolbraid.
@Scottish @love
filename[ RDDUND2
TUNE FILE: RDDUND2
CLICK TO PLAY
JB