Volume III, song 218, pages 226 and 227 - 'Laddie lie near me' - Scanned from the 1853 edition of the 'Scots Musical Museum', James Johnson and Robert Burns (Edinburgh and London: W. Blackwood & Sons, 1853)

Verse 1: 'Hark the loud tempest shakes Earth to its center, How mad, were the task on a journey to venture, How dismal's my prospect! of life, I am weary, O listen my love I beseech thee to hear me. Hear me, hear me, in tenderness hear me, All the long winter night Laddie be near me.' The 'old words' to accompany this tune are also given. They begin 'Lang hae we parted been, Lassie my dearie;'. 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. In his notes on the 'Museum', Burns has a very short entry for this song, 'This song by Blacklock'. He is referring to Thomas Blacklock (1721-91), a friend and fellow poet. Blacklock contributed a number of songs to the 'Museum', including 'Braes of Ballenden' (song 92), 'Fife and a' the lands about it' (song 120) and 'Here's a health to my true love, &c' (song 166). He is most likely responsible for the first song shown here. The air that accompanies both songs, according to Glen (1900), was not known by Burns: 'In September 1793, George Thomson sent the poet (Burns) a list of tunes which included it, and in answer the bard says, 'I do not know the air''.

Collection

Scots Musical Museum

Inventory Number

4503415

Title

Volume III, song 218, pages 226 and 227 - 'Laddie lie near me' - 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

- 263 x 211 mm