In 2008 I graduated from Edinburgh University with a Masters in Scottish Ethnology for my research into two tunes, The Three Carles O' Buchanan and The Braes O' Balquhidder. The former was used by Tannahill for his poem The Braes O' Balquhidder and the latter a published tune for the same poem set by R A Smith. My argument was between orality and literacy and I showed that Tannahill's choice of melody travelled orally but still known as The Braes O' Balquhidder and was the melody found in Another Sheaf of White Spirituals and the Social Harp for a song called Bonaparte. The tune was also called The Island of St. Helena and documented by Anne G Gilchrist as that sung by her mother. Tannahill's Braes O' Balquhidder as sung today always uses the published tune set by R A Smith whereas you'll find versions of 'Boney's awa' frae his warring and fighting' use the Three Carles O' Buchanan. The two tunes are similar but the orally transmitted tunes are all similar in their difference to the normally sung 'Braes O' Balquhidder.
My dissertation and argument are quite extensive and so the above paragaraph is very condensed.