Volume IV, song 334, page 344 - 'Donald Couper' - Scanned...
Volume IV, song 334, page 344 - 'Donald Couper' - Scanned from the 1853 edition of the 'Scots Musical Museum', James Johnson and Robert Burns (Edinburgh and London: W. Blackwood & Sons, 1853)
Chorus: 'Hey Donald how Donald, Hey Donald Couper; He's gane awa' to seek a wife and he's come hame without her.' Verse 1: 'O Donald Couper and his man, Held to a Highland fair, man, And a' to seek a bonie lass, But fient a' ane was there, man.' The Scots dialect for gone away is 'gane awa'' and 'fient ane' is Old Scots for 'not one'.
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.
Unusually for the 'Scots Musical Museum' this song is thought to be of English origin. Burns became heavily involved in the 'Museum' after the publication of volume one and it was at this point that he decided to include only songs of Scots or partial-Scots origin. This piece was first published in Playford's 'Dancing Master' in 1657, an English publication. Here, however, it was entitled 'Daniel Cooper', suggesting that the 'Museum' version had undergone alterations. This perhaps meant that it met Burns's criteria over a hundred years later.
Volume IV, song 334, page 344 - 'Donald Couper' - Scanned from the 1853 edition of the 'Scots Musical Museum', James Johnson and Robert Burns (Edinburgh and London: W. Blackwood & Sons, 1853)