Push About The Jorum
Robert Burns is reputed to have used the tune “Push About the Jorum” for his “Dumfries Volunteers”,
the first verse of which goes:
Does haughty Gaul invasion threat,
Then let the louns beware, Sir!
There’S wooden walls upon our seas,
And Volunteers on shore, Sir.
The Nith shall rin to Corsincon,
The Criffel sink in Solway,
E’re we permit a foreign foe,
On British ground to rally.
While some sources state that the air “Push About the Jorum” was an English opera tune
dating from the late 18th century,
William Stenhouse says,
“This song, beginning ‘Does haughty Gaul invasion threat?’,
was written by Burns in 1795,
and transmitted to Johnson for insertion in his
Museum
.
The charming tune, to which the words are adapted, was composed by Mr Stephen Clarke, organist.”
Burns himself wrote to James Johnson, editor of
The Scots Musical Museum
in which the song appeared,
“Thank you for the copies of my Volunteer Ballad. –
Our friend Clarke has done
indeed
well!
'tis chaste and beautiful.
I have not met with any thing that has pleased me so much.
You know, I am no Connoisseur; but that I am an Amateur – will be allowed me.”
Some confusion seems to exist
and a comparison of the tune in Volume 6 of the
Museum
and the music to “Push About the Jorum”
clearly shows the discrepancy.
Stephen Clarke, whom Burns credits with the composition of the tune for “The Dumfries Volunteers”,
was the organist at the Episcopal Chapel in Edinburgh’s Cowgate
and was the arranger employed by James Johnson for his collection.
Chambers’s
Scots Dictionary
defines “jorum” as “in phrase ‘push about the jorum,’
the name of an old Scottish reel, or the tune adapted to it.”
From “Scotland Dances”, by Eugenia (Jeannie) Callander Sharp
(Used by permission.)