The Book of Scottish Song/John Anderson, my jo
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[Written by Burns in 1789, for Johnson's Museum, to a very old tune, called John Anderson, my jo. The original John Anderson, according to tradition, is said to have been the town-piper of Kelso. In Bishop Percy's MS. book of ballads (a production of the middle of the 16th century) occur the following verses:—

The latter four lines, it will be observed, form a principal portion of the modern "Nid, noddin'."]

[In a collection of "Poetry, original and selected," published in penny Nos. between the years 1795 and 1798, by Messrs. Brash & Reid, Glasgow, and now very scarce, several additional stanzas to "John Anderson, my jo," are given, which were probably from the pen of one of the partners, Mr. William Reid, who, as we have already hinted at page 3, had a knack in eking out popular ditties. Mr. Reid was born at Glasgow in 1764, and for nearly thirty years carried on in his native city a most respectable bookselling business, in company with Mr. Brash. He died in 1831. Only the first four of the following stanzas can be fairly attributed to him.]