Volume I, song 094, pages 94 and 95 - 'My Apron, Dearie' - Scanned from the 1853 edition of the 'Scots Musical Museum', James Johnson and Robert Burns (Edinburgh and London: W. Blackwood & Sons, 1853)

Verse 1: 'My sheep I've forsaken, and left my sheep hook, And all the gay haunts of my youth I've forsook, No more for Amynta fresh garlands I wove, For ambition, I said, wou'd soon cure me of love. O what had my youth, with ambition to do! Why left I Amynta! why broke I my vow! O give me my sheep, And my sheep hook restore, And I'll wander from love and Amynta no more.' 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 in his notes on the song is very sure about the fact that, 'this song was composed by the late Sir Gilbert Elliot of Minto, Bart. He had a fine taste for music, and performed a little upon the German Flute'. The tune, however, is believed to be much older and Allan Ramsay (1686-1758) in his 'Tea-Table Miscellany' (1724-7) printed different lyrics, which begin 'Ah, Chloe! Thou treasure'. The origin of the song, it would appear still remains a little unclear.

Collection

Scots Musical Museum

Inventory Number

4503289

Title

Volume I, song 094, pages 94 and 95 - 'My Apron, Dearie' - 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

- 260 x 211 mm