Volume II, song 146, page 153 - 'I dream'd I lay, &c.' -...
Volume II, song 146, page 153 - 'I dream'd I lay, &c.' - Scanned from the 1853 edition of the 'Scots Musical Museum', James Johnson and Robert Burns (Edinburgh and London: W. Blackwood & Sons, 1853)
Verse 1: 'I dream'd I lay where flowers were springing, Gaily in the sunny beam; List'ning to the wild birds singing, By a falling, chrystal stream: Straight the sky grew black and daring; Thro' the woods the whirlwinds rave; Trees with aged arms were waring, O'er the swelling, drumlie wave.'
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 particular song was written by Robert Burns. He comments, in his notes on the 'Museum', that 'these two stanzas I composed when I was seventeen, and are among the eldest of my printed pieces'. Glen (1900) admits that he is puzzled by the tune and has no idea where Burns obtained it. After searching through the major collections of Scottish song, Glen was unable to find this particular melody prior to it inclusion in the 'Museum'. Glen was of the opinion that the tune was possibly of Irish origin.
Volume II, song 146, page 153 - 'I dream'd I lay, &c.' - Scanned from the 1853 edition of the 'Scots Musical Museum', James Johnson and Robert Burns (Edinburgh and London: W. Blackwood & Sons, 1853)