Volume III, song 225, page 234 - 'My love she's but a Lassie yet' - Scanned from the 1853 edition of the 'Scots Musical Museum', James Johnson and Robert Burns (Edinburgh and London: W. Blackwood & Sons, 1853)

Verse 1: 'My love she's but a lassie yet, My love she's but a lassie yet, We'll let her stand a year or twa, She'll no be half sae saucy yet. I rue the day I sought her O, I rue the day I sought her O, Wha gets her needs na say he's woo'd, But he may say he's bought her O.' 'Saucy' means scornful. 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. John Glen, in 'Early Scottish Melodies' (1900), goes on at length about this particular song. He quotes William Stenhouse, the editor of the 'Museum' following Johnson's death', who stated that 'The title and the last half stanza of the song are old: the rest was composed by Burns. Whilst many of Stenhouse's notes on the songs were subsequently found to be inaccurate, in this instance he appears to be correct. Glen notes that the last half stanza has been taken from 'Green grows the Rashes', which appeared in David Herd's 'Ancient and Modern Scottish Songs' (1776).

Collection

Scots Musical Museum

Inventory Number

4503422

Title

Volume III, song 225, page 234 - 'My love she's but a Lassie yet' - 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

- 132 x 211 mm