Volume VI, song 600, page 620 - 'Good night and joy be wi' you a'' - Scanned from the 1853 edition of the 'Scots Musical Museum', James Johnson and Robert Burns (Edinburgh and London: W. Blackwood & Sons, 1853)

Verse 1: 'The night is my departing night, The morn's the day I maun awa', There's no a friend or fae o' mine, But wishes that I were awa'. What I hae done for lack o' wit I never never can reca' I trust ye're a' my friends as yet, Gude night and joy be wi' you a'.' 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 song was written by Burns as his last song on Scottish soil - or so he thought. He recited it as his farewell speech to the St. James's Mason Lodge in Tarbolton, in 1786. Burns had many connections with Tarbolton, having also founded a bachelor's club there. Burns was being sued by his future father-in-law, James Armour, as Burns's lover Jean Armour was pregnant. As a result Burns had planned to emigrate to Jamaica, although this never came to fruition due to the sudden success of Burns's first published poems.

Collection

Scots Musical Museum

Inventory Number

4503795

Title

Volume VI, song 600, page 620 - 'Good night and joy be wi' you a'' - 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