Volume IV, song 306, page 316 - 'I've been Courting at a lass' - Scanned from the 1853 edition of the 'Scots Musical Museum', James Johnson and Robert Burns (Edinburgh and London: W. Blackwood & Sons, 1853)

Verse 1: 'I've been courting at a lass, These twenty days and mair; Her father winna gi'e me her, She's sick a gleib o' gear. But gin I had her where I wou'd Amang the heather here, I'd strive to win her kindness, For a' her father's care.' The 'Scots Musical Museum' is the most important of the numerous eighteenth- and nineteenth-century collections of Scottish song. When the engraver James Johnson started work on the second volume of his collection in 1787, he enlisted Robert Burns as contributor and editor. Burns enthusiastically collected songs from various sources, often expanding or revising them, whilst including much of his own work. The resulting combination of innovation and antiquarianism gives the work a feel of living tradition. The singer of this song is indeed striving for the lass's kindness, but for his own ends; 'she's sick a gleib o' geir', can be roughly translated as 'she has such a lot of things'! The tune, Glen (1900) asserts, resembles 'The Miller's Daughter', which was published by Angus Cumming and Alexander McGlashan in their respective collections of 1780.

Collection

Scots Musical Museum

Inventory Number

4503502

Title

Volume IV, song 306, page 316 - 'I've been Courting at a lass' - Scanned from the 1853 edition of the 'Scots Musical Museum', James Johnson and Robert Burns (Edinburgh and London: W. Blackwood & Sons, 1853)

Object Type

PhysicalObject

Measurements

- 132 x 211 mm