|
Date: |
|
Description: | Verse 1: 'O Lady Mary Ann looks o'er the castle wa', She saw three bonie boys playing at the ba', The youngest he was the flower amang them a', My bonie laddies young but he's growin' yet.'
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.
Although Johnson makes no mention here, it is generally recognised that this song was written by Burns in 1792. It is possible that he sought inspiration from a much earlier ballad. Numerous versions of both the song and melody have appeared over the years under different titles, including 'The Trees They Do Grow High', 'Daily Growing' and 'Bonny Boy is Young'. Glen (1900) concluded that the melody was 'not a genuine old melody', but in fact was based to a large extent upon the tunes of 'Pinkie House' (song 56) and 'The Blathrie o't' (song 33). | 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 IV, song 377, page 390 - 'Lady Ma | Go to resource |
|
|