Volume II, song 154, pages 161 and 162 - 'Thro' the Wood,...
Volume II, song 154, pages 161 and 162 - 'Thro' the Wood, 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: 'O Sandy, why leaves thou thy Nelly to mourn! Thy presence cou'd ease me, When naething can please me, Now dowie I sigh on the banks of the burn, Or thro' the wood, laddie, until thou return. Tho' woods now are gay, and mornings so clear, While lav'rocks are singing, and primroses springing; Yet none of them pleases my eye or my ear, When thro' the wood, laddie, ye dinna appear.' 'Dowie' is Scots for sad or mournful and a 'lav'rock' is a lark. The 'original words' of the song are shown on page 162. The first two lines read, 'As Philermon and Phillis together did walk, To the woods they did wander - To the woods they did wander.'
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 first song shown here was written by Allan Ramsay and included in his 'Tea-Table Miscellany' (1724-7). Although not known for sure, it is possible that the 'original words' were in fact penned by Dr Blacklock, poet and friend of Robert Burns. Both songs were intended to be sung to the same tune. Glen (1900) considers the tune to be of English origin and notes that 'the melody must have been greatly in fashion to account for its being included in most of the Scottish Collections published between 1725 and the Museum.'
Volume II, song 154, pages 161 and 162 - 'Thro' the Wood, Laddie' - Scanned from the 1853 edition of the 'Scots Musical Museum', James Johnson and Robert Burns (Edinburgh and London: W. Blackwood & Sons, 1853)