Doon, River

Burns mentions it many times, notably in 'Tam o' Shanter' and in the song 'Ye banks and Braes o' Bonie Doon'. This — possibly the most popular of all Burns's songs — first appeared in the Scots Musical Museum in 1792. It also appeared in Thomson's Scottish Airs. In a letter to Thomson, dated November 1794, Burns asked: 'Do you know the history of the air? It is curious enough. A good man years ago, a Mr Jas Miller, Writer in your good town, a gentleman whom, possibly, you know — was in company with our friend, Clarke; and talking of Scots music, Miller expresses an ardent ambition to be able to compose a Scots air. Mr Clarke, partly by way of a joke, told him to keep to the black keys of the harpsichord and preserve some kind of rhythm; and he would infallibly compose a Scots air. Certain it is, that within a few days, Mr Miller produced the rudiments of an air, which Mr Clarke, with some touches and corrections, fashioned into the tune in question'. Thus, using the pentatonic scale, one of the world's loveliest airs was fashioned! A copy was given to Neil Gow, who called it 'The Caledonian Hunts Delight' and printed it in his Strathspey Reels, 1788, 4 years before it appeared with Burns's words in the Museum. The manuscript of the song, in the British museum, has Gow's title crossed out.