Volume I, song 015, page 16 - 'My Dear Jockey' - Scanned from the 1853 edition of the 'Scots Musical Museum', James Johnson and Robert Burns (Edinburgh and London: W. Blackwood & Sons, 1853)

Verse 1: 'My Laddie is gane far away o'er the plain, while in sorrow behind I am forc'd to remain; th'o blue bells and violets the hedges adorn, tho' trees are in blossom and sweet blows the thorn, no pleasure they give me, in vain they look gay; there's nothing can please me now Jockey's away: forlorn I sit singing, and this is my strain, haste, haste, my dear Jockey, haste, haste, my dear Jockey, haste, haste my dear Jockey, to me back again!' Burns wrote comments on many of the songs in the 'Scots Musical Museum', at his friend Robert Riddell's request, in an interleaved copy of the book. Burns is characteristically contemptuous about this song which, being from the first volume, may well not be truly of Scots origin. He says merely, 'Another Anglo-Scottish production'. 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.

Collection

Scots Musical Museum

Inventory Number

4503212

Title

Volume I, song 015, page 16 - 'My Dear Jockey' - 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

- 130 x 211 mm