Volume V, song 455, page 468 - 'Sir John Malcolm' - Scanned...
Volume V, song 455, page 468 - 'Sir John Malcolm' - 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 keep ye weel frae Sir John Malcolm, Igo and ago, If he's a wife man I mistak him, Iram coram dago. O keep ye weel frae Sandie Don, Igo and ago He's ten times dafter than Sir John, Iram coram dago.'
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.
The melody for this little ditty first appeared in print in Robert Bremner's 'Collection of Scots Reels or Country Dances' (1764). The melody was thought to have been the basis of other popular folksongs of the time, including song 354 in the 'Museum', 'O fare ye weel, my auld wife'. The name Sir John Malcolm is relatively common among the upper classes, and moral songs warning girls about flirting with the aristocracy are relatively common. The repetition of ideas and phrases at regular intervals in the song is a common feature of stories from the oral tradition. This allowed the story to be more easily remembered and gave the listener a structure to follow.
Volume V, song 455, page 468 - 'Sir John Malcolm' - Scanned from the 1853 edition of the 'Scots Musical Museum', James Johnson and Robert Burns (Edinburgh and London: W. Blackwood & Sons, 1853)