The Complete Songs of Robert Burns

It took 244 years, but now we can hear them all!

Note: Like other non-travel posts in this section, this one is drawn from my book, MusicScapes of Scotland: Vignettes from Prehistory to Pandemic, compiled and revised based on 24 years of music columns written for Scottish Life magazine, from its first year until it was sold in 2020.

May I make a suggestion? If someone you love is interested in the subject, this book makes a great gift! Here’s a link telling you how to get it (paperback or ebook) in the U.S., U.K, or from your local bookshop, as well as some comments from prominent experts such as Fiona Ritchie, host of NPR’s The Thistle and Shamrock, who called it “an invaluable companion for anyone keen to explore Scottish music in depth, and equally engaging for casual readers.”

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If only he could join us for his 244th birthday this January [2004], Robert Burns would flush with pleasure to know that every one of his songs can now be enjoyed by anyone with a CD player.

The Complete Songs of Robert Burns, from Linn Records, was completed this past year with the release of the last three volumes of the 12-volume series. Vol. 11 being a double CD, there are thirteen CDs in all, containing every song currently known to have been written by Burns – a total of 365. One for each day of the year — surely a Scot can invent a CD-playing calendar to play us our daily Burns song!

This monumental tribute to Scotland's national poet is also an homage to the extraordinarily vibrant community of traditional Scottish musicians. Over 100 of Scotland's finest performers participated in recording the series, including more than 40 singers and over 60 instrumentalists.

Despite this large number of artists, the quality of the performances is uniformly excellent. I attribute this partly to the professionalism of the musicians; partly to the musical and organizational ability of the producer and arranger, Dr. Fred Freeman; and partly to the inspiring lyrics of Robert Burns and the beautiful melodies he selected.

Burns composed his songs by first choosing (or being inspired by) a traditional melody, then having it firmly in mind when writing the words. This is why his songs flow, the syllables matching the music, and the music adding expression to the words. Of course, this was no free ride: Burns regarded his poems as the fruit of "labor, attention, and pains."

When sung by such fine artists as perform on these recordings, the songs flow effortlessly and with great spirit. This too results from "labor, attention, and pains," for the melodies selected by Burns span a broad range of emotion, from slow air to fast fiddle reel, and many are difficult to sing because of speed or a wide vocal range — up to two-and-a-half octaves in some cases.

The musical arrangements by Dr. Freeman are uncluttered and complementary to each song. Traditional instruments are used to accompany but never overshadow the songs. Often a guitar backs the singer, fingerpicked or rhythmically strummed; sometimes we hear fiddle and hand drum (bodhran). Here and there, we are treated to smallpipes, whistle, harp, cello, harpsichord, or even organ-like chording on accordion. Several songs are unaccompanied.

Dr. Freeman's intent was to allow each CD to stand alone, like an extended concert, with varied tempos and texture. In this he succeeds. There is a good balance of drama, tension, serenity, joy, humor, and spunk in the music, just as in the lyrics.

A multi-instrumentalist in his own right, Freeman is a piper, a pianist, and an Honorary Fellow of the Department of English Literature at the University of Edinburgh. Other recent projects of his include a CD tribute to Hamish Henderson, and several albums exploring music of the Borders.

The Complete Songs of Robert Burns was launched to celebrate the 1996 bicentennial of the death of Robert Burns. The first album was built around the singing of the late Tony Cuffe, because Dr. Freeman felt that Cuffe’s clear enunciation and informal directness of expression represented the style of singing Burns preferred. Above all, Burns wanted his words understood and his feelings conveyed. Tony sings the opening and closing songs of the album, and four others as well. The other singers on that first album are all of the finest caliber: Rod Paterson of Ceolbeg, Billy Ross of Ossian, Christine Kydd of Chantan, Ian F. Benzie of Old Blind Dogs, Alan Reid of Battlefield Band, and Janet Russell.

Dr. Freeman brought on board many of Scotland's best singers and instrumentalists. For each song, he selected a singer that he thought would suit it best. In a few cases, he went through as many as six singers before finding the right singer for a particular song. Often, the singers were unfamiliar with their assigned songs, but learned them convincingly. They then had to record in only one or two takes, in order to preserve the freshness of the performances.

The more famous Burns songs, such as “Auld Lang Syne”, “A Man's A Man for A' That”, “Comin' Thro' the Rye”, and “Ye Banks and Braes” are sprinkled throughout the series, but there was apparently no master plan to spread out the "good stuff" among the various CDs. In fact, Dr. Freeman points out that there is "no rubbish," as he puts it, in Burns's work. All the songs are good, and many of the unknown songs are even better than the famous ones. Listeners may seek out the celebrated songs, but the not-so-well-known songs will never disappoint.

The songs with explicit lyrics are contained on one of the two CDs in Volume 11. Some are love songs with frank language; others are spunky or humorous exposés. Although there is a parental guidance label on this album, I'm not sure people need fret too much about the kids: the music is good, the singing spirited, the language is Scots, and the poet writes with plenty of indirect images and metaphors.

Volume 12 is a little different from the others in that the first half of the album contains a “cantata” with spoken words. Burns's "Love and Liberty: A Cantata" alternates brief poetic narration with songs, telling a story about a gathering of unsavory characters, revealing their humanity and distilling a few moral lessons for us all. Appropriately enough for this last album in the series, some of the songs are allusions or parodies of other Burns songs.

All lyrics are printed in the CD booklets. Ironically, my only frustration with the series is that the lyrics are the only information given about each song, other than a listing of performers. Despite the risk of too bulky a booklet, it would have been nice if the liner notes told us a little about each song; certainly most of the songs have tales to tell. For instance, we could learn about the melodies Burns selected, which were all tunes or older songs in their own right before he used them.

Some Burns songs are commonly sung to melodies Burns did not select, but this series remains true to the original tunes. Two examples are “Auld Lang Syne” and “My Love is a Red Red Rose.” Once you hear the original melody, you will gain an appreciation for Burns's impeccable musical taste.

Burns made clear which melodies to use for most of his songs, but in a few cases, Dr. Freeman had to research Burns's letters for suggestions on which tunes to use. For the handful of songs without any indication of melodies, Freeman selected appropriate Scottish tunes, often ones used by Burns for other songs.

The significance of this project for Scottish culture cannot be overstated. About 60% of the works of Robert Burns were songs, and for the first time, we can now listen to Burns's works in roughly the way that he conceived of them. In addition, through the efforts of over 100 of Scotland's best contemporary musicians, we get a taste of the heart and soul of today’s Scottish music.

Infused with modern freshness and spirit, yet true to the original works, the Complete Songs of Robert Burns recordings would surely thrill the author, if only he could make it to the birthday party. Come to think of it, what better way for him to join us than in a spirited performance of his works?