Volume VI, song 523, page 540 - 'Gudeen to you kimmer' - Scanned from the 1853 edition of the 'Scots Musical Museum', James Johnson and Robert Burns (Edinburgh and London: W. Blackwood & Sons, 1853)

Verse 1: 'Gudeen to you kimmer and how do ye do? Hiccup, quo', kimmer, The better that I'm fou.' Chorus: 'We're a' noddin, nid nid noddin we're a' noddin at our house at hame, We're a' noddin, nid nid noddin we're a' noddin at our house at hame.' 'Gudeen' means good evening, 'kimmer' means gossipy woman and 'fou' means full. 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. Under the title, it says that this comic rural song had been 'Corrected by Burns'. According to Stenhouse (1853), Burns adapted the words to an old song called 'We're a nid noddin' in our houses at hame'. John Glen (1900) disputes what Stenhouse says, and writes that if the song and air had been an old one, Burns would have attributed the source. Certainly, there was no printed record of the song until it appeared in the 'Museum'.

Collection

Scots Musical Museum

Inventory Number

4503717

Title

Volume VI, song 523, page 540 - 'Gudeen to you kimmer' - 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

- 129 x 211 mm