Volume II, song 188, pages 195 and 196 - 'Up and warn a'...
Volume II, song 188, pages 195 and 196 - 'Up and warn a' Willie - Scanned from the 1853 edition of the 'Scots Musical Museum', James Johnson and Robert Burns (Edinburgh and London: W. Blackwood & Sons, 1853)
Verse 1: 'Up and warn a' Willie, Warn warn a'; To hear my canty highland sang Relate the thing I saw, Willie. When we gaed to the braes o' Mar, And to the wapon-shaw, Willie, Wi' true design to serve ye king banish whigs awa', Willie. Up and warn a' Willie, Warn warn a'; For Lords and lairds came there bedeen, And wow they were braw Willie.'
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.
Burns in his personal notes on the song highlights the differences between highland and lowland Scotland at the time, 'The expression 'Up and warn a' Willie' alludes to the calling of a highland clan to arms. Not understanding this, the Lowlanders in the West, and South, say 'Up and waur them a' (etc)'. It is thought that this song is of Scottish origin and was inspired by the Battle of Shrieffmuir in 1715. There is, however, no firm evidence for this. It first appeared in print during the 1720s, and continued to be reprinted, including the edition in the 'Museum'.
Volume II, song 188, pages 195 and 196 - 'Up and warn a' Willie - Scanned from the 1853 edition of the 'Scots Musical Museum', James Johnson and Robert Burns (Edinburgh and London: W. Blackwood & Sons, 1853)