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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(2)
When bonny young Johnny came o'er ye sea,
He said he saw nathing so bonny as me, He haight me baith Rings and mony bra things, And were ne my Hearts light I wad dye. |
(3)
He had a wee Titty that lo'ed na me,
Because I was twice as bonny as she, She rais'd sick a Pother twixt him & his mother, That were ne my Hearts light I wad dye. |
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(4)
The day it was set and the Bridal to be,
The wife took a Dwalm and lay down to dye, She main'd and she grain'd out of Dollor & pain, Till he vow'd that he ne'er wou'd see me again. |
(5)
His Kin was for ane of a higher degree,
Said what had he do with the likes of me, Appose I was bonny I was ne for Johnny, And were ne my Hearts light I wad dye. |
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(6)
They said I had neither Cow nor Calf,
Nor drops of drink runs thro' the drawf, Nor Pickles of Meal runs thro' the mill Eye, And were ne my Hearts light I wad dye. |
(7)
The maiden she was baith wylly and slye,
She spyed me as I came o'er the Lee, And then she ran in and made sick a din, Beleive your ain Een an ye trow ne me. |
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(8)
His bonnety stood ay fu' round on his Brow,
His auld ane lookt ay as well as his new, But now he lets't gang ony gait it will hing, And casts himsell down on the Corn bing. |
(9)
And now he gaes drooping about the Dykes,
And a' he dow do is to hund the Tykes, The live lang night he ne'er bows his Eye, And were ne my Hearts light I wad dye. |
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(10)
But young for thee as I ha' been,
We shou'd ha' been galloping down in yon Green, And linking out o'er yon lilly white Lee, And wow gin I were young for thee. |