No. 131. Where Cart rins rowin to the sea.
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Source: «traditionalmusic.co.uk»
No. 131. "Where Oart rins rowin to the sea. Scots Musical Museum, 1792, No. 389, signed ' R,' entitled The gallant weaver. 'Mr. B.'s old words' (Law's MS. List). Thomson's Scotish Airs, 1795, _?p. The MS. is in the British Museum. The Cart, a stream of moderate pretentions, is known chiefly as furnishing a river to the ancient burgh of Paisley in Renfrewshire. The city of weavers is reported to have given birth to more poets than any town in Scotland. ' The chorus of this song is old, the rest of it is mine. Here, once for all, let me apologize for many silly compositions of mine in this work ["Scots Musical Museum"]. Many beautiful airs wanted words; in the hurry of other avocations, if I could siring a parcel of rhymes together any thing near tolerable, I was fain to let them pass. He must be an excellent poet indeed, whose every performance is excellent' (InterleavedMuseum),
The tune is in Aird's Airs, 1782, i. No. J74, entitled Weaver's March, or Twenty-first of August. It has not the character of a Scottish melody. The New Swedish Dance, in the Musical Pocket-Book, c. 1715, resembles the tune. Thomson printed Burns's song in his musical collection, and without authority changed the ' weaver' into a ' sailor,' and set it to The auld wife ayont the fire. Mr. John Glen has found the tune in the Dancing Master, 1728, entitled Frisky Je?my, or the Tenth of June.
Source: «traditionalmusic.co.uk»
