Volume V, song 447, pages 458 and 459 - 'She says she lo'es me best of 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: 'Sae flaxen were her ringlets, Her eyebrows of a darker hue, Bewitchingly o'er arching Twa laughing een o' bonie blue Her smiling sae wyling. Wad make a wretch forget his woe; What pleasure, what treasure, unto these rosy lips to grow: Such was my Chloris bonie face, When first her bonie face I saw; And ay my Chloris dearest charm, She says she loes me best of 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. The character Chloris was a popular pastoral motif at this time. The name is a derivative of the goddess Khloris' name. She was the Greek goddess of vegetation and the name in this context implies protection, fertility and rural charm. According to the information at the top of the page, under the title, this song was written by Burns to an Irish air. This is relatively unusual as Burns had adopted a strict criterion of only including songs which were strictly of Scots origin. The lyrics, however, meant that the song at least partly met the condition. Burns explains himself in a letter to his friend George Thomson (1757-1851), sent in September 1794, 'Do you know the blackguard Irish song called 'Onagh's Waterfall'? The air is charming, and I have often regretted the want of decent verses to it'. Just months before his death Burns was working on altering 25 Irish songs for Thomson.

Collection

Scots Musical Museum

Inventory Number

4503641

Title

Volume V, song 447, pages 458 and 459 - 'She says she lo'es me best of 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

- 258 x 211 mm