Volume I, song 098, page 99 - 'The Joyful Widower' - Scanned from the 1853 edition of the 'Scots Musical Museum', James Johnson and Robert Burns (Edinburgh and London: W. Blackwood & Sons, 1853)

Verse 1 (to the tune of 'Maggy Lauder'): 'I Married with a scolding wife, The fourteenth of November. She made me weary of my life, By one unruly member. Long did I bear the heavy yoke, And may griefs attended, But to my comfort be it spoke, Now, now her life is ended.' 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. It was suggested that this song had been written by Robert Burns himself, but this is an older theory and so far has not been proved. Indeed it is not attributed to him in the 'Museum' and is thought to have been included in a publication issued seven years before this. The trials and tribulations of wedlock and especially scolding was a popular subject among Scottish lyricists.

Collection

Scots Musical Museum

Inventory Number

4503293

Title

Volume I, song 098, page 99 - 'The Joyful Widower' - 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