Volume III, song 268, page 277 - 'I'll mak you be fain to follow me' - Scanned from the 1853 edition of the 'Scots Musical Museum', James Johnson and Robert Burns (Edinburgh and London: W. Blackwood & Sons, 1853)

Verse 1: 'As late by a sodger I chanced to pass, I heard him a courtin' a bony young lass; My hinny, my life, my dearest, quo he, I'll mak you be fain to follow me. Gin I should follow you a poor sodger lad, Ilk ane o' my cummers wad think I was mad; For battles I never shall lang to see, I'll never befain to follow thee.' In this instance 'fain' means anxious or eager. 'Hinny' is Scots for honey, used as a term of endearment, and 'cummer' generally refers to someone who is a gossip. 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. Whilst very little is known about the song or melody, the tune did appear in Margaret Sinkler's 'Musick Book' of 1710. This was around 50 years before its inclusion in James Oswald's 'Caledonian Pocket Companian' (1759). As to the song, Glen (1900) is unsure whether the words featured in the 'Museum' were the original words. The earliest known appearance of this version was in Allan Ramsay's 'Tea-Table Miscellany' (1724-7).

Collection

Scots Musical Museum

Inventory Number

4503464

Title

Volume III, song 268, page 277 - 'I'll mak you be fain to follow me' - 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