Alan, Burns had nothing to do with the bawdy "John Anderson my Jo". The first version in DT, except for verse order and spelling is practically the same as that in 'The Masque', 2nd edit. 1768. Burns was then 9 years old. A version of five verses is in "Philomel', 1744, reprinted in the first volume of 'The Comic Miscellany,' 1756. The later version is also in other songbooks before its appearance in 'The Merry Muses of Caledonia' (1799), and appears with its tune in 'The Convivial Songster' 1782.