Mick…….to summarise, it is MacColl’s printed version of the tune, 1953, which has become the standard leaving folk thinking this was Burns’ intended. I still haven’t found anything recorded of the original Burns’ (Oswald’s) tune before the 1968 arrangement I did for Nigel Denver. I’ve spoken to a few performers and they’ve all said they copied Archie Fisher’s version 1970 and Archie would most certainly have MacColl’s songbook. And Guest.ABC, I took for granted you would understand that earlier sheet music referred to something earlier than MacColl’s printed version. I have Oswald’s Caledonian Pocket Companion Sweetest Kiss which is the basis for Johnson’s Scots Musical Museum version and I agree it a more dynamic tune than the rather bland MacColl’s printed, collected version. But my post is not about the merits or demerits of the two tunes but to establish authenticity.
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