Volume III, song 209, page 218 - 'My Harry was a Gallant gay' - Scanned from the 1853 edition of the 'Scots Musical Museum', James Johnson and Robert Burns (Edinburgh and London: W. Blackwood & Sons, 1853)

Verse 1 (to the tune of 'Highlander's Lament'): 'My Harry was a gallant gay, Fu' stately strade he on the plain; But now he's banish'd far awa', I'll never see him back again.' Chorus: 'O for him back again, O for him back again, I wad gie a Knockhaspie's land For Highland Harry back again.' 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. Burns commented, in his notes on the 'Museum', that the oldest title to this air he had encountered was 'The Highland Watch's farewell to Ireland'. He goes on to say that 'the chorus I pickt up from an old woman in Dunblane; the rest of the song is mine'. Burns was responsible for writing or revising many of the songs included in the 'Museum'. The tune, also known under the title 'Highlander's Farewell', is generally considered to be a composition for the bagpipes.

Collection

Scots Musical Museum

Inventory Number

4503406

Title

Volume III, song 209, page 218 - 'My Harry was a Gallant gay' - 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

- 132 x 211 mm