Volume IV, song 321, page 332 - 'I do confess thou art sae...
Volume IV, song 321, page 332 - 'I do confess thou art sae fair' - 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 do confess thou art sae fair, I wad been o'er the lugs in luve; Had I na found the slightest prayer That lips could speak thy heart could muve. I do confess thee sweet, but find, Thou art sae thriftless o' thy sweets, Thy favors are the silly wind That kisses ilka thing it meets.'
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 left a commentary on some of the songs in his friend, Robert Riddell's copy of the 'Museum'. He wrote about this song, 'This song is altered from a poem by Sir Robert Ayton, private Secretary to Mary and Anne, queens of Scotland. The poem is to be found in James Watson's collection of Scots Poems, the earliest collection printed in Scotland. I think that I have improved the simplicity of the sentiments, by giving them a Scots dress.' One of the features of Burns's involvement in the 'Museum' was his revision of songs and their words. The melody to this piece is thought to go by the name of 'Jacky Tar'.
Volume IV, song 321, page 332 - 'I do confess thou art sae fair' - Scanned from the 1853 edition of the 'Scots Musical Museum', James Johnson and Robert Burns (Edinburgh and London: W. Blackwood & Sons, 1853)