Volume I, song 097, page 98 - 'Bide ye Yet' - Scanned from the 1853 edition of the 'Scots Musical Museum', James Johnson and Robert Burns (Edinburgh and London: W. Blackwood & Sons, 1853)

Verse 1: 'Gin I had a wee house, and a canty wee fire, A bonny wee Wifie to praise and admire, A bonny wee Yardy aside a wee burn; fareweel to the bodies that yammer and mourn!' Chorus: 'Sae bide ye yet, and bide ye yet, ye little ken what may betide you yet. Some bonny wee body may be my lot, and I'll ay be canty wi' thinking o't.' 'Gin' in this context, reads as 'It's about time'.'Canty' is a Scots word for lively, pleasant and cheerful. 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. This is one of the first recordings of this song and so many modern enthusiasts are grateful to the 'Museum'. Burns commented on alternative verses for this song in his personal notes, 'There is a beautiful song to this tune beginning:- 'Alas! My son, you little know' which is the composition of a Miss Jenny Graham of Dumfries'.

Collection

Scots Musical Museum

Inventory Number

4503292

Title

Volume I, song 097, page 98 - 'Bide ye Yet' - 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

- 130 x 211 mm