Traditional Folk Songs Of Many Nations

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John Anderson, my jo.

81

Words by BURNS.

Old Scots Melody.

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1.  John An-der-son,my 2.  John An-der-son,my

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jo, John, When we were first ac-'quent, Your locks were like the rav-en,Your bonnie brow was jo, John, We clamb the hill thc-gither, And mo-ny a can-tie da};John, We've had wi'ane an-

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brent, But now your brow is baldjohn,Your locks are like the snow, Yet bless-ings on your ithcr; Now we maun tot-ter down,John, But hand in hand we'll go, Andwellsleepthegither

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frost-y pow, John An-der-son, my jo. at the foot, John An-der-son, my jo.

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Burns wrote the tender poem in 1790. The melody is an old Scottish tune in the mode of the second.The key note is the second tone of our diatonic major scale. This is the same os the old church mode called the Gregorian first tone, or the Doric scale. Nothing proves the antiquity of the Scottish music more clear�ly than tho kinship which it has to the most ancient existing modes of scale-construction. It is even pos�sible that some of the musical effects of tho ancient Greek music survive in the folk-songs of Scotland. The F of this «ong is to be performed as F natural, not F Bharp. Tho scale is from G to G with the third note flatted. It is often mistaken for G minor and printed so. The E flat added in parenthesis in the 14th measure, although generally sung is not in the original version.