Volume VI, song 557, page 576 - 'O gin I were fairly shot o' her' - 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 gin I were fairly shot o' her fairly fairly fairly shot o' her, O gin I were fairly shot o' her if she were dead I wad dance on the tap o' her. 'Till we were married I cou'd na see light till her for a month after a' thing ay gaed right wi' her but these ten years I hae pray'd for a wright to her O gin I were fairly shot o' her.' 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 origin of the words and tune to this song is believed, by modern commentators, to be of Irish origin. The tune, which goes by the name of 'Fairlie Shot of Her', appears in Scottish records for the first time in Mrs Crocket's manuscript book of 1710. It was then reprinted throughout the 1700s. Stenhouse, the later 'Museum' editor, asserted that the song was altered and improved by by one of the project's engravers, John Anderson. Unfortunately his changes are not recorded separately, so it is now impossible to know which parts were original.

Collection

Scots Musical Museum

Inventory Number

4503752

Title

Volume VI, song 557, page 576 - 'O gin I were fairly shot o' her' - 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

- 129 x 211 mm