Volume II, song 124, page 130 - 'Wap at the Widow, my...
Volume II, song 124, page 130 - 'Wap at the Widow, my Laddie' - Scanned from the 1853 edition of the 'Scots Musical Museum', James Johnson and Robert Burns (Edinburgh and London: W. Blackwood & Sons, 1853)
Verse 1: 'The widow can bake, the widow can brew, The widow can shape, and the widow can sew, And mony braw things the widow can do, Then wap at the widow, my laddie. With courage attack her baith early and late. To kiss her and clap her ye manna be blate; Speak well and do better; for that's the best gate, To win a young widow, my laddie.' 'Wap' means to strike, flog or wrestle and 'blate' refers to shy, timid or bashful behaviour.
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.
In 'Early Scottish Melodies' (1900), Glen records that 'This good old tune, we are informed, belonged to a song so indelicate that (Allan) Ramsay remodelled it, retaining the wit of the original words, and rejecting all offensive expressions.' In its present form, the subject matter of this song is still rather risquǸ. The tune is known to have appeared in Henry Playford's 'Original Scotch Tunes' (1700), under the title 'Wappat the Widow, my Lady', William Graham's Manuscript book for the Flute (1694) and in the second volume of Thomson's 'Orpheus Caledonius' (1733).
Volume II, song 124, page 130 - 'Wap at the Widow, my Laddie' - Scanned from the 1853 edition of the 'Scots Musical Museum', James Johnson and Robert Burns (Edinburgh and London: W. Blackwood & Sons, 1853)