Volume V, song 403, page 416 - 'Old Set, Red red Rose' -...
Volume V, song 403, page 416 - 'Old Set, Red red Rose' - Scanned from the 1853 edition of the 'Scots Musical Museum', James Johnson and Robert Burns (Edinburgh and London: W. Blackwood & Sons, 1853)
Verse 1: 'O my Luve's like a red, red rose, That's newly sprung in June; O My Luve's like the melodie That's sweetly play'd in tune.'
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 particular song by Burns appears in Johnson's 'Museum' twice. Whilst the lyrics remain the same in both, the accompanying melodies differ. This, the 'old set', is accompanied by the same melody as 'Mary Queen of Scots Lament' (song 404) and the other, 'A red red Rose' (song 402), is set to the tune of 'Major Graham'. It is, however, more familiarly known sung to the tune, 'Low down in the Broom'.
Volume V, song 403, page 416 - 'Old Set, Red red Rose' - Scanned from the 1853 edition of the 'Scots Musical Museum', James Johnson and Robert Burns (Edinburgh and London: W. Blackwood & Sons, 1853)