Volume VI, song 550, page 569 - 'Tis nae very lang sinsyne' - Scanned from the 1853 edition of the 'Scots Musical Museum', James Johnson and Robert Burns (Edinburgh and London: W. Blackwood & Sons, 1853)

Verse 1: 'Tis nae very lang sinsyne, That I had a lad o' my ain, But now he's awa to anither, And left me a' my lane. The lass he is courting has siller an' I hae nane at a'; Its nought but the love o' the tocher That's ta'en my laddie awa.' 'Sinsyne' means 'since then', 'siller' is 'money' and 'tocher' is a dowry. 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 (1900) writes that the air for this song is called 'We'll kiss the world before us', and that it appears in book seven of James Oswald's 'Caledonian Pocket Companion' (1753). Glen writes that the song 'consists of six strains, and the song is sung to the first and the fourth'. Glen further says that the version of this song which appears in the 'Museum', is taken from David Herd's 'Ancient and Modern Scottish Songs' (1776). There is no record of who originally wrote the lyrics for this song.

Collection

Scots Musical Museum

Inventory Number

4503745

Title

Volume VI, song 550, page 569 - 'Tis nae very lang sinsyne' - 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