Volume IV, song 304, page 314 - 'My Goddess Woman' - Scanned from the 1853 edition of the 'Scots Musical Museum', James Johnson and Robert Burns (Edinburgh and London: W. Blackwood & Sons, 1853)

Verse 1 (to the tune of 'The Butcher Boy'): 'O' mighty Nature's handywarks, The common, or uncommon, There's nocht thro' a her limits wide Can be compar'd to Woman. The Farmer toils the Merchant trokes, Frae dawn to the gloamin The Farmer's pains, the Merchant's cares, Are baith to please a Woman.' 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. John Glen, who is regarded as one of the most reliable authorities on music of the period, was unable to find this tune published in any Scottish collection before the 'Museum'. He suspects therefore that it is not a Scots tune at all and may well be Irish, or as he poetically puts it, 'a native of the sister isle'. That the words are Scots there can be no doubt although they are unattributed.

Collection

Scots Musical Museum

Inventory Number

4503500

Title

Volume IV, song 304, page 314 - 'My Goddess Woman' - 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