Volume I, song 093, page 94 - 'Corn Riggs' - 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 'Patie is a lover gay, His mind is never muddy, His breath is sweeter than new hay, His face is fair and ruddy. His shape is handsome middle size, He's stately in his waking. The shining of his een surprise; 'Tis heav'n to hear him tawking.' 'Een' is the Scots word for eyes. 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 is thought that this song may be of English origin as there is another very similar contemporary English piece known as 'Corn Riggs are Bonnie', an English piece, is known off. This song eventually became so well known that Franz Josef Haydn composed a new violin and piano duet to accompany the words in 1802, although it is believed that when first published it was intended to be sung to a harpsichord accompaniment.

Collection

Scots Musical Museum

Inventory Number

4503288

Title

Volume I, song 093, page 94 - 'Corn Riggs' - 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