Volume V, song 454, pages 466 and 467 - 'Our Goodman came hame at e'en, &c.' - Scanned from the 1853 edition of the 'Scots Musical Museum', James Johnson and Robert Burns (Edinburgh and London: W. Blackwood & Sons, 1853)

Verse 1: 'Our goodman came hame ar e'en, And hame came he; And there he saw a saddle horse, Where nae horse should be. O how came this horse here? Or can it be O how came this horse here, Without the leave o' me? A horse, quo' she: Ay a horse, quo' he. Ye auld blind dotard carl, And blinder mat ye be 'Tis but a dainty milk cow, My minnie sent to me. A milk cow! Quo he; Ay a milk cow, quo' she. O far hae I ridden, And meikle hae I seen, But a saddle on a milk cow afore I ne'er saw nane.' 'Quo' is the Old Scots for 'asked' or 'said' and 'meikle' is the Scots for 'much' or 'a lot'. 'Dotard auld carl', would translate as a confused old man. 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 a very old school of thought which believes that this song is a remnant of a Jacobite ballad. The first printed occurrence of the song, however, was in David Herd's 'Scots Songs' published in 1776. There was no melody attached to the piece at this stage though. When it came to be published by Johnson, he had heard that a hairdresser in Candlemaker Row, in Edinburgh, enjoyed singing the song. Johnson and his editor Clarke visited with Mr Geikie, the hairdresser, and took the melody down. They also 'corrected' some of the words which had been used in Herd's version of the song.

Collection

Scots Musical Museum

Inventory Number

4503648

Title

Volume V, song 454, pages 466 and 467 - 'Our Goodman came hame at e'en, &c.' - 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

- 258 x 211 mm