Volume VI, song 522, pages 538 and 539 - 'Ae day a braw wooer, &c' - Scanned from the 1853 edition of the 'Scots Musical Museum', James Johnson and Robert Burns (Edinburgh and London: W. Blackwood & Sons, 1853)

Verse 1: 'Ae day a braw wooer came down the lang glen, And sair wi' his love he did deave me; But I said there was naething I hated like men, The deuce gae wi' him to believe me believe me, The deuce gae wi' him to believe me.' 'Deave' means to deafen or to worry. An alternative set of lyrics to the same tune have been provided. They begin: 'The Queen o' the Lothians cam cruisin to Fife'. 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. John Glen (1900) points out that Burns did not write the lyrics for his songs until he was familiar with the song's melody. Given his method of writing, Glen says it is peculiar that Burns does not refer to a melody by name when he gave the song to Johnson. The name of the melody, continues Glen, is 'The Lothian Lassie' - though it is sometimes also called 'Queen of the Lothians'. Glen says that he could find no printed record of this melody prior to the publication of the 'Museum'. As Glen could find no previous record of this melody, he questions Stenhouse's (1853) claim that this song is derived from a 'curious old ballad'.

Collection

Scots Musical Museum

Inventory Number

4503716

Title

Volume VI, song 522, pages 538 and 539 - 'Ae day a braw wooer, &c' - 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

- 258 x 211 mm