Volume VI, song 584, page 604 - 'O turn away those cruel eyes' - 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 turn away those cruel eyes, The stars of my undoing Or death, in such a bright disguise, May tempt a second wooing. Punish their blindly impious pride, Who dares contemn thy glory; It was my fall that deify'd Thy name and seal'd thy story.' 'Contemn' is probably meant to read condemn. 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. Unfortunately little is known about either the song or the melody, although Glen (1900) believed the characteristics of the melody suggested an Irish origin. Burns made it a condition of his involvement that only Scottish songs and melodies be included in the 'Museum'. Despite this, a number of Irish and English compositions have found their way into the collection.

Collection

Scots Musical Museum

Inventory Number

4503779

Title

Volume VI, song 584, page 604 - 'O turn away those cruel eyes' - 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