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Description: | Verse 1: 'Her Daddie forbad her, her Minnie forbad, Forbidden she wadna be: She wadna trow't, the browst she brew'd Wad taste sae bitterlie.' Chorus: 'The lang lad they ca' jumpin' John Beguil'd the bonie lassie, The lang lad they ca' jumping John Beguil'd the bonie lassie.' 'Minnie' is a pet name for mother in Scots and 'wadna trow't', in this instance, probably refers to a sense of disbelief.
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.
According to Donald A. Low (1991), this song was either written, revised or collected for the 'Museum' by Burns. As to the tune, there is some doubt over its origins. John Glen, in 'Early Scottish Melodies' (1900), noted that it was not of Scottish origin. He goes on to confirm that this particular tune appeared in a number of early song collectons and that it 'is the parent air of the now popular bagpipe tune, 'Cock of the North''. | License: | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0 | Publisher: | National Library of Scotland | Temporal: | 1787-01-01 - 1803-12-31 | Source: | Burns Scotland | Identifier: | Volume II, song 138, page 145 - 'Jumpin' | Go to resource |
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