Volume III, song 244, page 253 - 'Lass gin ye lo'e me, tell me now' - Scanned from the 1853 edition of the 'Scots Musical Museum', James Johnson and Robert Burns (Edinburgh and London: W. Blackwood & Sons, 1853)

Verse 1: 'I ha'e laid a herring in fa't, Lass gin ye lo'e me tell me now. I ha'e brew'd a forpet o' ma't an I canna come ilka day to woo. I ha'e a calf will soon be a cow, Lass gin ye loe me tell me now, I ha'e a pig will soon be a sow, an' I canna come ilka day to woo.' A 'forpet o' ma't' is a fourth of a peck of malt. 'Ilka' in this sense reads as every. 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 unfortunately left no personal notes on this rather down-to-earth approach to the subject of courtship. It would have been curious to know whether this appealed to his sense of humour and reality. It is classed as a humorous parody and it may be of English origin. Scots and English parodies, however, are virtually the same. This tune was published in an earlier Scots collection in 1782 and most of the English songs included in the 'Museum' are noticeably different.

Collection

Scots Musical Museum

Inventory Number

4503441

Title

Volume III, song 244, page 253 - 'Lass gin ye lo'e me, tell me now' - 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