Volume III, song 260, page 269 - 'John Anderson my Jo' -...
Volume III, song 260, page 269 - 'John Anderson my Jo' - Scanned from the 1853 edition of the 'Scots Musical Museum', James Johnson and Robert Burns (Edinburgh and London: W. Blackwood & Sons, 1853)
Verse 1: 'John Anderson my jo, John, When we were first Acquent; Your locks were like the raven, Your bony brow was brent; But now your brow is beld, John, Your locks are like the snaw; But blessings on your frosty pow, John Anderson my Jo.' In Scots 'Jo' is a term of endearment meaning dear or sweetheart. 'Brent' is smooth and 'beld' is bald. 'Frosty-pow' is referring to his grey head.
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.
Under the title of this song, Johnson has included the note 'Written for this work by Robert Burns'. Whilst the information Johnson included in the 'Museum' has not always proved to be accurate, in this instance it is. Burns did in fact write this song and, as he did with so many of his songs, he has written it from the female perspective, telling of a love that has lasted many years. Interestingly, Donald Low, in an introduction he wrote to the 'Museum' (1991), considers Burns's rehandling of this tune to be his 'finest achievement of all in volume III'. Before Burns wrote a song to accompany this tune, it had become associated with 'ribald words'. Unfortunately little is known about the origins of the tune.
Volume III, song 260, page 269 - 'John Anderson my Jo' - Scanned from the 1853 edition of the 'Scots Musical Museum', James Johnson and Robert Burns (Edinburgh and London: W. Blackwood & Sons, 1853)