Volume IV, song 326, pages 336 and 337 - 'As I cam down by yon castle wa'' - 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 I cam down by yon castle wa', And in by yon garden green, O there I spied a bony bony lass, But the flower borders were us between.' 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 was asked by his close friend Robert Riddell, to make notes on some of the songs he collected in Riddell's copy of the 'Museum'. When a lot of information was known or the song had touched Burns in some way, longer notes were left. Most of the passages, however, are incredibly brief and often quite terse, such as this one here, 'this is a very popular Ayrshire song'. Unusually, the tune is not known in any publication previous to the 'Museum'. The composition and Burns have a shared origin so perhaps Burns had grown up with the song!

Collection

Scots Musical Museum

Inventory Number

4503522

Title

Volume IV, song 326, pages 336 and 337 - 'As I cam down by yon castle wa'' - 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