Volume VI, song 540, pages 558 and 559 - 'O Tell me my Bonny &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: 'O tell me my bonny young lassie, O tell me how for to woo; O tell me my bonny sweet lassie, O tell me the way for to woo. O fay maun I roose your red cheeks like the morning; lips like the rose when it's moisten'd wi' dew; And sey maun I roose your een's pauky scorning, O tell me dear lassie the way for to woo.' 'Fay' means faith, 'maun' means to order, 'roose' means to praise and 'pauky' is shrewd. 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. This is the second of the songs in the 'Museum' that was written by the poet, Hector MacNeill (1746-1818), 'Come under my plaidy' being the other song. A love song, the romantic lyrics form a sort of lovers' test for the 'dear lassie', with her lover trying to measure the depth of her love for him by telling her he was only ever interested in her 'tocher' (dowry). Indeed, the song's subject matter is very similar to 'Come Under My Plaidy' (song 533), with the exception that it is now the man who appears - on the surface - to be more interested in money than in love. John Glen (1900) writes that Hector MacNeill became familiar with the air for this song while visiting Argyleshire.

Collection

Scots Musical Museum

Inventory Number

4503735

Title

Volume VI, song 540, pages 558 and 559 - 'O Tell me my Bonny &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