Volume II, song 110, page 113 - 'Bonnie May' - Scanned from...
Volume II, song 110, page 113 - 'Bonnie May' - Scanned from the 1853 edition of the 'Scots Musical Museum', James Johnson and Robert Burns (Edinburgh and London: W. Blackwood & Sons, 1853)
Verse 1: 'It was on an ev'ning sae saft and sae clear, A bonnie lass was milking the kye, And by came a troop of gentlemen, And rode the bonnie lassie by.' 'Kye' is the Scots word for cows or kine as they were also known at the time.
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.
There is no record of this song previous to the 'Scots Musical Museum'. As a result there is some doubt over the songs antiquity and it has instead been suggested that it was written at this later date, imitating an older style. There is very little other information available on this piece.
Volume II, song 110, page 113 - 'Bonnie May' - Scanned from the 1853 edition of the 'Scots Musical Museum', James Johnson and Robert Burns (Edinburgh and London: W. Blackwood & Sons, 1853)