Joseph Corfe (arr.)
(1740 - 1820)

Down the burn
(S.A.T.B. + reduction)
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Corfe, organist of Salisbury Cathedral, 1792 - 1804, issued two sets of "Twelve glees.... composed from ancient Scotch melodies" in the early 1790s, to satisfy two contemporary enthusiasms: that for mixed sex social music, and that for all things North-British. The current arrangement comes from the second set.

These glees were selected from a repertoire of well-known Scottish songs that had been anthologised in the previous seventy years. Corfe appears to have been particularly indebted for source material to James Johnson's "Scots Musical Museum", Edinburgh 1787, which included texts edited and improved by Robert Burns. This song is more usually encountered under the title of "Johnny and Mary".
Lyrics: Anon

Down the burn and through the mead,
His golden locks waved o'er his brow,
Johnny, lilting, tuned his reed
And Mary wiped her bonny mou'.

Dear she lowed the well-known song,
While her Johnny, blithe and bonny,
Sung her praise the whole day long.
Down the burn and through the mead,
His golden locks waved o'er his brow,
Johnny, lilting, tuned his reed
And Mary wiped her bonny mou'.

Gold and titles give not health,
And Johnny could not these impart;
Youthful Mary's greatest wealth
Was still her Johnny's heart.

Sweet the joys the lovers find!
Great the treasure, sweet the pleasure,
Where the heart is always kind.
Down the burn and through the mead,
His golden locks waved o'er his brow,
Johnny, lilting, tuned his reed
And Mary wiped her bonny mou'.