Volume V, song 444, page 456 - 'O can ye sew Cushions' - 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 can ye sew Cushions and can ye sew Sheets and can ye sing balluloo when the bairn greets. And hee and baw birdie and hee and baw lamb and hee and baw birdie my bonnie wee lamb. Hee O wee O what wou'd I do wi' you black's the life that I lead wi' you monny O you little for to gie you hee O wee O what would I do wi' you.' 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. There is very little information available on this lullaby. Although Burns left commentaries on some of the songs in the earlier volumes of the 'Museum', there is no such light thrown on this piece. The song is sung by a mother whose husband is away at sea and so may have appealed to wide-ranging audience. It has been suggested that the meaningless words are supposed to represent baby talk. An alternative suggestion is that a Gaelic song has been amalgamated with a lowland Scots song and these words are untranslated Gaelic sounds. This theory is based on the fact that this tune is similar to the Gaelic refrain 'Cro Challin'.

Collection

Scots Musical Museum

Inventory Number

4503638

Title

Volume V, song 444, page 456 - 'O can ye sew Cushions' - 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

- 129 x 211 mm