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Description: | Verse 1: 'There's cauld kail in Aberdeen, And castocks in Strathbogie; Gin I hae but a bony lass, Ye're welcome to your Cogie And ye may sit up a' the night; And drink till it be braid day light; Gie me a lass baith clean and tight, To dance the Reel of Bogie.' 'Kail' or 'kale' is a type of cabbage and 'castocks' are the stems.
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 Burns, in his notes on the 'Museum', this song was written by the Duke of Gordon. The verses included in the 'Museum', however, vary from the original. As to the tune, Glen (1900) concluded after much research that the melody was not to be found in any major Scottish song collections published prior to the 'Museum'. He went so far as to say that 'the present tune is not older than the 'Museum''. | 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 162, page 170 - 'Cauld K | Go to resource |
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