Volume IV, song 338, page 348 - 'Thou art gane awa'' -...
Volume IV, song 338, page 348 - 'Thou art gane awa'' - Scanned from the 1853 edition of the 'Scots Musical Museum', James Johnson and Robert Burns (Edinburgh and London: W. Blackwood & Sons, 1853)
Verse 1: 'Thou art gane awa thou art gane awa, Thou art gane awa frae me Mary, nor friends nor I could make thee stay, Thou hast cheated them and me Mary. Until this hour I never thought That ought could alter thee, Mary, Thou'rt still the Mistress of my heart, Think what you will of me, Mary.' 'Thou art gane awa' translates as 'you have gone away'.
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, in his commentary on the 'Museum', noted, 'this tune is the same with, 'Haud awa' frae me, Donald''. The first written occurrence of the tune is in Playford's 'Dancing Master' of 1690, although it may have been published as early as 1652 by him. There is also a copy of it contained in the Scottish Blaikie Manuscript of 1692. It was republished many times before its appearance in the 'Museum' although under the varying titles of 'Welcome Home Old Rowley' and 'Hold away from me Donald'.
Volume IV, song 338, page 348 - 'Thou art gane awa'' - Scanned from the 1853 edition of the 'Scots Musical Museum', James Johnson and Robert Burns (Edinburgh and London: W. Blackwood & Sons, 1853)