Volume V, song 440, page 452 - 'Tibbie Fowler' - Scanned from the 1853 edition of the 'Scots Musical Museum', James Johnson and Robert Burns (Edinburgh and London: W. Blackwood & Sons, 1853)
Verse 1: 'Tibbie Fowler o' the glen, There's o'er mony wooin at her, Tibbie Fowler o' the glen, there's o'er mony wooin at her.' Chorus: 'Wooin at her, pu'in at her, courtin at her, canna get her: Filthy elf, its' for her pelf, that a' the lads are wooin at her'. The term 'elf' was used to convey contempt whilst the word 'pelf' conveyed the idea of contemptible reproach and money.
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 believed the melody to this piece to have been written by the Girvan fiddler, John McGill, who named it for personal reasons. There were versions of this tune in print from the 1720s onwards though. The author of the lyrics, it has tentatively been suggested, was the Carnwath minister, Rev. Dr Strachan. The 'Tibbie' of the song could have been Isobel Fowler of Leith, who owned a house in 1636, with her husband George Logan of Restalrigg. This, however, remains largely unsubstantiated.
Volume V, song 440, page 452 - 'Tibbie Fowler' - Scanned from the 1853 edition of the 'Scots Musical Museum', James Johnson and Robert Burns (Edinburgh and London: W. Blackwood & Sons, 1853)