Volume IV, song 390, page 404 - 'Sleepy Body' - Scanned...
Volume IV, song 390, page 404 - 'Sleepy Body' - Scanned from the 1853 edition of the 'Scots Musical Museum', James Johnson and Robert Burns (Edinburgh and London: W. Blackwood & Sons, 1853)
Verse 1: 'Sleepy body, drowsy body, wiltuna waken and turn thee. To drivel and draunt while I sigh and gaunt gi'es me good reason to scorn thee. To drivel and draunt while I sigh and gaunt, Gi'es me good reason to scorn thee.' 'Wiltuna' is 'wilt thou not?', whilst 'draunt' is 'to drone' and 'gaunt' is 'to yawn'.
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.
This is a humorous song recounting the trials and tribulations of sleeping next to a lover who snores. It is a good example of the everyday subject matter often used in the songs included in the 'Museum'. Folksongs were always intended to reflect real life, dealing with situations and emotions that people could recognise or identify with. Unfortunately, little is known of the origins of this song. A similar version of the tune, however, is known to have appeared in the second edition of William Thomson's 'Orpheus Caledonius' (1733).
Volume IV, song 390, page 404 - 'Sleepy Body' - Scanned from the 1853 edition of the 'Scots Musical Museum', James Johnson and Robert Burns (Edinburgh and London: W. Blackwood & Sons, 1853)