Volume IV, song 375, page 388 - 'Donocht-Head' - Scanned...
Volume IV, song 375, page 388 - 'Donocht-Head' - Scanned from the 1853 edition of the 'Scots Musical Museum', James Johnson and Robert Burns (Edinburgh and London: W. Blackwood & Sons, 1853)
Verse 1: 'Keen blaws the wind o'er Donocht-head, The snaw drives snelly thro' the dale, The Gaberlunzie tirls my sneck, And shivering tells his waefu' tale. Cauld is the night, O let me in, And dinna let your Minstrel fa', And dinna let his windin sheet, Be naething but a wreath o' snaw.' 'Snelly' is Scots for coldly or bitterly and a 'Gaberlunzie' is a beggar. In the song, the beggar 'tirls' or turns the 'sneck' or door-latch.
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.
Prior to its inclusion in the 'Museum', the accompanying melody appeared in William McGibbon's 'Second Collection of Scots Tunes', published in 1746, under the title 'Gordon Castle'. It is also known to have appeared a number of years later, with the same title, in book ten of James Oswald's 'Caledonian Pocket Companion' (1759). Unfortunately the name of the composer is not known.
Volume IV, song 375, page 388 - 'Donocht-Head' - Scanned from the 1853 edition of the 'Scots Musical Museum', James Johnson and Robert Burns (Edinburgh and London: W. Blackwood & Sons, 1853)