Volume III, song 250, pages 258 and 259 - 'Tak your auld cloak about ye' - Scanned from the 1853 edition of the 'Scots Musical Museum', James Johnson and Robert Burns (Edinburgh and London: W. Blackwood & Sons, 1853)

Verse 1: 'In winter when the rain rain'd cauld, And frost and snaw on ilka hill, And Boreas with his blasts sae bauld, Was threat'ning a' our ky to kill. Then Bell my wife, wha loves na strife. She said to me right hastily, Get up good man save Cromie's life, And tak your auld cloak about ye.' 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 left a comment on this song in his friend Robert Riddell's copy of the 'Museum'. He wrote, 'A part of this song according to the English set of it, is quoted in Shakespear'. Iago in 'Othello' is given some of these lines, although he refers to King Stephen and not King Robert. It is thought possible that the tune could be based on the English folksong 'Greensleeves'. It was a favourite of the Scottish folksinger David Kennedy (1825-7), whose memorial can be found on Calton Hill. The composition was also rearranged by Franz Josef Haydn (1732-1809).

Collection

Scots Musical Museum

Inventory Number

4503447

Title

Volume III, song 250, pages 258 and 259 - 'Tak your auld cloak about ye' - 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

- 263 x 211 mm