Album Summary: William Thomson's Orpheus Caledonius (1725) was a landmark publication; the first ever large-scale collection of "Scotch Songs" in print — 50 songs arranged with un-figured bass, most with lyrics from Allan Ramsay's Scots Songs and Tea-Table Miscellany, plus an appendix of melodic reductions. It was an instant hit and in 1733, expanded into 2 volumes with 100 songs. Indeed, Thomson's Orpheus set the standard format for Scots Song settings for the rest of the eighteenth century, including those of Robert Burns in The Scots Musical Museum. This ScotMus.com album is a faithful reprint of the song arrangements from the historic 1st edition of 1725.
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Oblig'd by Command in Flanders to land,
T'employ my Courage and Skill.. O; Frae'er quietly I staw, hoist Sails and awa', For Wind blew fair on the Bill.. O. Twa Years brought me hame, where loud frailing Fame, Tald me with a voise right sh[r]ill.. O, My Lass like a Fool had mounted the Stool, Nor kend wha'd done her the Ill.. O. |
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Mair fond of her Charms, with my Son in her arms,
I ferlying sweer'd how she fell.. O, Wi' the Tear in her Eye, quoth she Let me die, Sweet Sir gin I can tell.. O. Love gave the Command, I took her by th' Hand, And bad her a' Fears expell.. O, And nae mair look wan, for I was the Man, Wha had done her the Deed my sell.. O. |
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My bonny sweet Lass on the gowany Grass,
Beneath the Shilling-hill.. O, If I did offence, I'se make ye amends, Before I leave Peggy's Mill.. O. O the Mill, Mill.. O, and the Kill, Kill.. O, And the cogging of the wheel.. O; The Sack and the Sieve, a' thae ye maun leave, And round with a Sodger reel.. O. |