Burns in the USA


Burns in the USA

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Don't roll yet. I'm practising, right?

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Bad Scots accent or American accent?

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Robert Burns, the great Scottish bard,

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never travelled to America,

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but his poems and songs certainly did.

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Burns was the 19th-century Elvis, that's how popular he was.

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Burns' poems were pirated in the States

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by several canny Scots who printed thousands of copies.

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He's all over America in the early 19th century.

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I mean, everybody's reading Robert Burns.

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The poet's stories really hit home in this emerging nation

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and some of the greatest cultural and political minds of the day

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were influenced by Burns' work

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during America's most troubled years.

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He is of the people by the people for the people.

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He's an American poet.

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In his own lifetime, Burns was big in America.

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After his death, he became an absolute icon.

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This is the story of a new nation

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that took a poet from the old country to its heart

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and of the legacy that his words left behind.

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All right, here we go.

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The whole thing?

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How do you say this?

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"We've..." Oh, wait.

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Wee, sleekit, cow...

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-Is it "slick-it"?

-Sleekit.

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"Cow'rin".

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Wee, sleekit, cow'rin tim'rous beastie

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O, what a panic in thy breastie!

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Thou need na start awa sae hasty

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Wi' bickering brattle!

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I wad be laith to rin an' chase thee

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Wi' murdering pattle!

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I can do that over, if you want.

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It may not be obvious when travelling through America,

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but if you know where to look,

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the evidence of Burns is there to be seen.

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And in the wooded suburbs of Atlanta, Georgia,

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there's a curious relic.

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It's a unique Burns club that has been meeting for over 100 years

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in this living, breathing replica of the cottage in Ayrshire

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where Burns was born.

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Rebuilding Burns' cottage, an exact replica,

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I suppose is the biggest homage to Burns

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in the United States of America.

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It is very much a sign that Burns is successfully, not artificially,

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transplanted into the United States of America in enduring fashion.

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And it's Atlanta pharmacist Joseph Jacobs,

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the man that served the very first glass of Coca-Cola,

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that the members have to thank for their cottage.

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A lawyer, Piromis Bell, and Dr Joseph Jacobs had a meeting.

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Piromis Bell spied a copy of Burns on his shelf

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and read several poems.

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Jacobs was so blown away that he decided,

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"We must do something about this."

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In 1907,

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the club made plans for their very own Burns cottage

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on land bought by Dr Jacobs.

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It's an almost exact replica

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but it doesn't have a thatched roof.

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Some of our archives indicate that the field mice

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found it a little bit too attractive.

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CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

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LAUGHTER

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The Burns Club of Atlanta

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may not look exactly like the cottage in Ayrshire,

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but it does embody the spirit of Burns.

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The whole notion of good company, good eating, good drinking,

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good toasting, good jesting,

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all of these things which have a kind of licence in Burns' own work

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are to be found in the Atlanta Burns Club.

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Like most Burns Clubs, this one celebrates the life,

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works and philosophy of Robert Burns.

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Glad to be here with my wife now of six months.

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CHEERING

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I want to thank Robert Burns for helping this to happen.

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I read Red, Red Rose to her before I asked the question.

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Burns, a man that liked company, drinking and talking politics.

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Those of you who don't know, I have an English son-in-law who said,

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"Do you really need to wear this T-shirt,

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"especially in the political system that we've got now?"

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It says "Make America Great Britain again!"

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CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

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Burns cottage, you know, was built on the outskirts of town on purpose,

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so they could have a place to sing and drink their whisky

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and then walk up the hill and catch the trolley back into town.

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I was in "Edinboro" a few years ago and I was...

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I was drinking.

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SHOUTING

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We've had five governors, we've had senators.

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We've had judges.

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We had a guy who...

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took care of goats.

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BANGING

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Gentleman and guests,

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at this time in accordance with the normal routine of the programme,

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we'll be reading from the bard by Frank Shaw.

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Yes, Frank!

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Thank you very much.

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These verses were suggested by the actual event of Burns ploughing.

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It goes something like this. It says...

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Small, crafty, cowering, timorous little beast...

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It's not just the poetry that caused this enduring American fascination

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in Robert Burns.

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It's the history of the man and the things he stood for.

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Burns' life had been a combination of hard labour as a farmer,

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but also as a young man who enjoyed fashion, who enjoyed dancing,

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who enjoyed music, who enjoyed poetry.

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He was part of a cultural set in Ayrshire.

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And if you look at the guys who get together

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to subscribe to his first book,

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it's very often lawyers, schoolteachers, merchants.

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These are the guys that Burns is mixing with

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in that Ayrshire Enlightenment.

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The poems were an instant hit,

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and the Ploughman Poet was soon entertaining

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the literati of Edinburgh.

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With his second edition of his poems, with a much bigger print run,

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some began to refer to Burns as "Caledonia's bard".

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We're talking about 612 copies of the Kilmarnock edition.

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We're then talking about 3,000 copies of the Edinburgh edition,

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and Burns begins to accrue money

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that represents a tidy sum in today's terms.

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It's the kind of sales, it's the kind of money,

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that a modern poet would kill for.

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Evidence of the high regard that Americans have for Burns

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can be seen by the number of people that collect his works.

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Frank Shaw's collection is one of the most extensive.

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I've got books that cost in the hundreds of dollars

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and I've got...

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a few books that cost in the thousands of dollars.

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Erm...

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The most treasured possession I have is a Kilmarnock,

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poems chiefly in the Scottish dialect.

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This book is extremely special.

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It's the first book written by Robert Burns.

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The book meant a lot to Burns.

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It gave him the money to pay off some debts,

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it paved the way for him to receive the recognition

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that he actually thought that he deserved and, erm...

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it's the most treasured item that I have in my life.

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Other than my wife!

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It's very expensive.

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I know there's about 82-84 books left like this.

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There's one for sale right now on eBay for 85,000.

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But it's not the Kilmarnock or Edinburgh editions

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that propelled the work of Robert Burns onto the American stage.

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That's chiefly down to two printers from Scotland

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looking to make a tidy sum in Philadelphia.

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I still find it quite remarkable

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that it just takes a matter of months

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after the 1787 Edinburgh edition is first sold

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before it's being reprinted even in both Philadelphia and New York.

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In places like Philadelphia,

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Burns begins to have a presence in the local newspapers,

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partly due to the expatriate Scottish community,

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but not exclusively.

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It's quickly realised by editors this guy is enjoyed as a poet,

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as a songwriter.

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And before long, some bright spark in Philadelphia has the idea,

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"Let's pirate an edition of Burns,

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"let's just take the Kilmarnock and the Edinburgh poems

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"and let's print it here."

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It' thought to be in the rooms above this bar

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in the centre of Philadelphia where those Scottish bright sparks,

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Peter Stewart and George Hyde, pirated the poetry of Burns.

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Philadelphia and New York were the main commercial hubs

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of America during the period.

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Printing presses are very, very heavy

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and when they would've come from overseas,

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they would've come in through a port city, and Philadelphia

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was kind of the original port city

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before New York kind of surpassed it.

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The absence of any copyright laws

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created a culture of reprinting in New York and Philadelphia,

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and naturally, because of the shared language,

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popular British books became commonplace,

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and if you think about it from an entrepreneurial

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or marketing point of view,

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it makes sense in that you don't have to pay any royalties,

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but you can reprint work and make money from selling these books.

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Putting a book of poetry together gives you some specific challenges

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really in typesetting.

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With poetry you have to be very, very careful,

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because where lines break,

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where they're indented, all of that matters in poetry.

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So it would've been, you know, not only a fair amount of work,

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but it would've been a fair amount, you know, kind of skilled work.

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The high cost of producing a substantial book of poetry

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meant that Stewart and Hyde had to be confident

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that Burns' poems would sell well.

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But the popularity of the poet meant the venture was unlikely to fail.

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Printers wanted to make money and I think if they found something

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that they believed would sell, a book of poetry that, you know,

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had a kind of history of doing well,

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I could see why that would be, you know,

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very enticing to an American printer, erm...

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copyright aside possibly!

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The same year, two more Scots,

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John and Archibald McLean from Glasgow,

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published an edition in New York.

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Little did Burns know,

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but his bootlegged books were flooding the American market.

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We've got no direct evidence that Burns knows this is happening.

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He is reading about America in the periodical press.

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Almost certainly he's seeing advertisements for his own work.

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Burns gets a lot of fame but no royalties at all from that venture.

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The chearfu' Supper done, wi' serious face

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They, round the ingle, form a circle wide

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The Sire turns o'er, with patriarchal grace

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The big ha'-Bible...

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-The big ha'-Bible...

-Ha'Bible...

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The big ha'Bible, ance his Father's pride

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His bonnet rev'rently is laid aside

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His lyart haffets wearing thin and bare

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Those strains that once did sweet in Zion glide

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He wales a portion with judicious care

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And let us worship God! he says with solemn air.

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It's really pretty. It's a little hard to pronounce some of the words.

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It's like "ha'-Bible," I don't even...

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I don't know what that means.

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In 19th-century America, there was a ready audience for homely tales

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of country folk, listening to words from the Bible in the hall,

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or ha'-Bible.

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It was a country of recent immigrants,

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keen for reading matter that related to their rural lives,

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especially those whose roots were from Scotland.

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This is the St Andrew's Society of Central Illinois,

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enjoying their annual barbecue and membership drive.

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Undoubted fans of all things Scottish,

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they're proud of their bagpipes and their love of Burns.

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If you're an immigrant and you're moving somewhere

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for a very long time and you're probably not going to return,

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you're going to take some reading material

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and you're going to sing the same songs that you sang back home,

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and you might even sing them a bit louder in a new, foreign land.

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When you transplant culture, in some ways it becomes more self-conscious,

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even more traditional, and tradition begets tradition.

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That's not to say there isn't a genuine love going on,

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but Burns clearly abroad as well as at home

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becomes somewhat fetishistic.

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Burns and his works were definitely used to

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uphold a sense of Scottish identity in America.

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But when Burns did become popular,

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it didn't take long for his work and even the symbolism of the man

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to become incorporated into these societies and to become a symbol,

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a patriotic symbol of Scotland and Scottishness.

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BAGPIPES PLAY

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THEY SHOUT CLAN NAMES

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Clan McFarlane!

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CHEERING

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Up!

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Clans, light the fire!

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Scotland forever.

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APPLAUSE

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We have to teach our youth about the history.

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We can't let it be forgotten because it happened.

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As Burns would say, we don't want it to gang agley,

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or go away.

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MUSIC: Ae Fond Kiss played on flute

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I remember when I was eight years old

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and my parents gave me a book of his poetry and I read it

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and read, er, Scots Wha Hae.

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And it's... He's always been there.

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At my dad's funeral, I recited My Heart's In The Highlands,

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which is still one of my favourite Burns poems.

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And it was tough to do but I did it for my dad,

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and he would've loved it, so...

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Robert Burns' final years were marked with money worries

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and increasingly bad health.

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But his death at the age of 37

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didn't bring about a drift into obscurity.

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Burns' reputation and fame grew,

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and in the States, his work would go on to influence some of

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the most important thinkers of the 19th century.

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Copy of Time Out magazine!

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Free copy of Time Out magazine.

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-All right.

-Free copy, free copy.

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Then let us pray that come it may

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As come it will for a' that,

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That Sense and Worth, o'er a' the earth

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Shall bear the gree, an' a' that.

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For a' that, an' a' that, It's coming yet for a' that

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That Man to Man, the world o'er

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Shall brothers be for a' that.

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We're all men, I think we're all women, we're all people.

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'It's probably about that.'

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That was great, that was great.

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This is a great poem.

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The man should be for a' that.

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With his brothers. We're all that.

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You know?

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Free copy of Time Out magazine. Free copy, it's all that.

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And that.

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When Robert Burns was a young man,

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he was fascinated by the emerging nation

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that was to become the United States of America.

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The British crown was in conflict with its upstart colonies in America

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for all of Burns' teenage years.

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And his most radical views were heavily influenced

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by what he learned of the revolutionary war.

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Burns wrote a handful of poems,

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songs and letters that mention America.

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The common theme is an association with liberty.

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However, by the time of Burns' death,

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it was becoming clear that the ideals behind

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the American Declaration of Independence had not come to pass.

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The enslavement of black people was endemic in the States.

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But in the fight to end it,

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two people would draw in different ways on the work of Robert Burns.

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They were the most influential African-American of the 19th century,

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and the man who was probably America's greatest president.

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Although Abraham Lincoln had little formal education,

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he was a voracious reader by the time he arrived

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in New Salem, Illinois at 21 years of age.

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But books were hard to come by in small frontier townships.

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Fortunately, this one had the next best thing to a library -

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the 27 books of neighbour Jack Kelso.

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Well, with a name like Jack Kelso, or Jock Kelso,

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it's no surprise that this is a Scotsman,

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and he is certainly one of Lincoln's mentors.

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Lincoln may well have read the books of Robert Burns

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before he came to New Salem,

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but Kelso seemed to give the words new weight and meaning.

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He heard Kelso recite the works of Robert Burns

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complete in that Scottish dialect, acting out those poems.

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Lincoln picks up that habit.

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What I think is going on is that Lincoln,

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like many new world politicians,

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many new world cultural figures of intellectuals,

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is looking for something that in a sense isn't British,

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isn't English.

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And Burns, to some extent, I think,

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plays into that alternative culture that America's looking for.

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Burns' stories of the common man and his themes of egalitarianism

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were attractive to those struggling to uphold the founding principles

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of the new American republic.

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The same year that Lincoln leaves New Salem for a law career,

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another young man is planning a much more dramatic change of life.

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Frederick Douglass started out as an enslaved person

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on the plantation of Talbot County, Maryland.

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He would escape at the age of 20 in 1838 at the help of his first wife,

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Miss Anna Murray-Douglass,

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and he started making those strong and vehement forceful arguments

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as an abolitionist against slavery.

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We're looking at his last and final home, which was Cedar Hill,

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where he would often say that he's actually able

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to keep an eye on Congress.

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The home of Frederick Douglass is now a museum,

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containing his most precious possessions.

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One of the first books that Douglass got after his escape from slavery

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was a copy of Burns' poems

0:22:160:22:18

and he treasured this throughout most of his life.

0:22:180:22:21

Mr Douglass had a tremendous man crush on Robert Burns,

0:22:230:22:27

and the significance is these are the books

0:22:270:22:29

that Douglass connected with.

0:22:290:22:32

We have the Complete Poetical Works of Robert Burns.

0:22:320:22:36

We know this was actually a transformative book for Mr Douglass

0:22:360:22:40

because all of Douglass' books that had his name

0:22:400:22:43

with the signature in it are the ones that he really cherished.

0:22:430:22:47

He describes Burns as someone who

0:22:470:22:49

"broke through the moorings which society threw around him."

0:22:490:22:54

He enlists Burns into his own discourse on slavery and abolition.

0:22:540:22:59

The two main themes that really connected with Douglass

0:22:590:23:03

in terms of Burns' works is the notion of the egalitarian,

0:23:030:23:08

the common folks, as well as this idea of liberalism

0:23:080:23:11

that was really coming to fruition all throughout Europe at the time.

0:23:110:23:16

Fearing that by raising his profile he might be recaptured

0:23:160:23:19

and returned to slavery,

0:23:190:23:21

Douglass left for a 19-month tour of the British Isles,

0:23:210:23:25

a place where the anti-slavery movement was beginning to flourish.

0:23:250:23:28

After he frees himself from captivity,

0:23:290:23:32

Frederick Douglass self-consciously, but entirely sincerely,

0:23:320:23:37

presents himself as a man of culture,

0:23:370:23:39

and that's important in the clothes he wears, in the poetry he reads

0:23:390:23:44

as he goes round advocating the abolition of slavery.

0:23:440:23:49

Because people have to see an educated black man.

0:23:490:23:52

Even though he hasn't been to university,

0:23:520:23:54

even though he hasn't had a huge amount of schooling,

0:23:540:23:57

one of the things that gives him the confidence to appear educated

0:23:570:24:00

is the exemplar of Robert Burns

0:24:000:24:03

who had a similar kind of formative experience.

0:24:030:24:07

Non-university, self-taught, but as cultured as anybody else.

0:24:070:24:12

In Scotland,

0:24:160:24:17

Douglass not only argued the case for black emancipation,

0:24:170:24:21

but he also lobbied the free Church about how it raised funds

0:24:210:24:24

from slave owning states.

0:24:240:24:27

He also took a detour to see the birthplace of his poetic mentor,

0:24:270:24:30

Robert Burns, and meet his elderly sister, Isabella,

0:24:300:24:34

and two of the poet's nieces.

0:24:340:24:36

He wrote extensively about his trip in a letter

0:24:390:24:41

later published in the New York Tribune.

0:24:410:24:44

"I am now in the town of Ayr.

0:24:460:24:49

"It is famous for being the birthplace of Robert Burns,

0:24:490:24:52

"the poet by whose brilliant genius every stream, hill, glen

0:24:520:24:57

"and valley in the neighbourhood have been made classic.

0:24:570:25:01

"For as you are aware, painfully perhaps,

0:25:040:25:08

"I am an enthusiastic admirer of Robert Burns."

0:25:080:25:11

The trip to Britain was a great success.

0:25:140:25:17

Douglass had furthered the cause of egalitarianism

0:25:170:25:21

and his supporters had raised enough money to purchase him

0:25:210:25:23

from his slave owner in the States.

0:25:230:25:25

In 1847, Douglass returned to the United States

0:25:270:25:31

a commanding and influential speaker,

0:25:310:25:33

and a free man.

0:25:330:25:34

Well, here we have the Lincoln-Herndon Law Office

0:25:430:25:46

behind us here, and this is where Lincoln would practice his law trade

0:25:460:25:50

for a number of years.

0:25:500:25:52

By the time Frederick Douglass was back in the States,

0:25:520:25:55

Lincoln had spent ten years honing his oratory skills

0:25:550:25:58

in the courtrooms of Springfield.

0:25:580:26:00

The Capitol here is actually one of the most historic buildings

0:26:000:26:03

in our nation's history.

0:26:030:26:04

This is where Lincoln served in the legislature,

0:26:040:26:07

argued court cases. By the time that he had become

0:26:070:26:10

an Illinois House of Representative here,

0:26:100:26:12

Lincoln has actually gained a reputation

0:26:120:26:15

as the finest lawyer in the entire state of Illinois.

0:26:150:26:20

Now there's a thriving tourist industry in Springfield,

0:26:200:26:23

centred around the house Lincoln lived in

0:26:230:26:25

and the reputation of the man that owed some of his oratory power

0:26:250:26:29

to the writing of Robert Burns.

0:26:290:26:31

Lincoln had only one year total of formal schooling.

0:26:310:26:35

It makes all the sense in the world that Shakespeare and Burns

0:26:350:26:39

and the Bible and many others he read

0:26:390:26:41

were influential in his writing style.

0:26:410:26:44

In his speeches, his very emotive style owes something

0:26:440:26:48

to the high sentimental style that he's reading in Robert Burns.

0:26:480:26:52

In terms of satire, Burns is one of the best.

0:26:520:26:56

Abraham Lincoln picks up that characteristic as well.

0:26:560:26:58

He writes brilliant satirical pieces

0:26:580:27:02

that are reminiscent of many of the pieces of Burns.

0:27:020:27:05

During the 1850s, Lincoln's ability to argue his case

0:27:090:27:13

is progressively tested as tensions grow

0:27:130:27:16

over the increasingly divisive issue of slavery.

0:27:160:27:19

A power struggle was developing between the North

0:27:230:27:25

and the slave-owning Southern states, and in 1860,

0:27:250:27:28

Illinois' finest lawyer stands for president on an anti-slavery ticket.

0:27:280:27:33

Lincoln wins the election,

0:27:340:27:36

but his victory instigates the worst crisis in the history

0:27:360:27:39

of the United States.

0:27:390:27:41

Seven states secede from the union,

0:27:420:27:45

Southern militias are taking over federal property.

0:27:450:27:50

It's a very ominous situation in American history.

0:27:500:27:53

When he's coming into Washington, DC,

0:27:540:27:57

he's almost coming into enemy territory.

0:27:570:28:01

DC was a very Southern city at the time,

0:28:010:28:03

and the sentiments were very much with the South.

0:28:030:28:07

As neither side would budge, war became inevitable.

0:28:130:28:16

Lincoln knew this Civil War would decide the future direction

0:28:180:28:21

of America. It would either continue

0:28:210:28:24

as the largest slave-owning country in the world

0:28:240:28:27

or it would become one in which the idea that all men are created

0:28:270:28:30

with an equal right to liberty would finally come true.

0:28:300:28:34

The first big battle was to take place around the banks of a creek

0:28:370:28:41

called Bull Run in Virginia,

0:28:410:28:43

around 30 miles west of the federal capital of Washington, DC.

0:28:430:28:47

Over an eight-mile front, troops waited for orders.

0:28:470:28:52

Some wrote letters home, some took the time to read.

0:28:520:28:55

His songs and poetry were used by various political groups,

0:28:570:29:02

often on opposing sides.

0:29:020:29:04

You have Northern abolitionists who were quoting Burns,

0:29:040:29:08

but you also have Southern Confederate groups,

0:29:080:29:12

who are proven to be fans of his poetry and songs.

0:29:120:29:18

Burns isn't really a war poet,

0:29:180:29:21

he's more a poet of the home front

0:29:210:29:24

so that people are reading the poetry,

0:29:240:29:26

the songs like Green Grow the Rushes, O

0:29:260:29:29

and thinking of their girl back home.

0:29:290:29:31

So he does write sometimes about war,

0:29:310:29:34

but what he's writing much more about is love and hearth and home.

0:29:340:29:40

When the Southern Confederates beat Lincoln's unionists at the battle,

0:29:420:29:46

both sides could see that the war would be

0:29:460:29:48

a long, drawn-out and bloody affair.

0:29:480:29:50

Frederick Douglass saw something else,

0:29:520:29:54

that among these rebels were black troops.

0:29:540:29:57

He suggested that these troops had been pressed into service

0:29:570:30:00

by their tyrant masters,

0:30:000:30:02

and Douglass used this to force home the argument to Abraham Lincoln

0:30:020:30:06

that all slavery should be abolished now

0:30:060:30:09

and that former black slaves should be armed as a military strategy.

0:30:090:30:13

Lincoln believed very much in the founding documents

0:30:130:30:17

of the United States, that talk about all men being created equal,

0:30:170:30:21

and that's something that you see in the poetry of Robert Burns as well,

0:30:210:30:24

and so this idea of natural rights

0:30:240:30:27

is something that Lincoln really latched onto.

0:30:270:30:30

And very much why the Emancipation Proclamation is the culmination

0:30:300:30:35

of his personal beliefs and what he felt he could do

0:30:350:30:38

according to his official duties as President of the United States

0:30:380:30:41

and Commander in Chief.

0:30:410:30:43

Lincoln's proclamation of emancipation

0:30:440:30:47

made the freeing of slaves an explicit goal of the war.

0:30:470:30:51

After it came into effect in 1863,

0:30:510:30:54

any slaves that escaped to the North became free

0:30:540:30:57

and they could fight for the union, just as Douglass wanted.

0:30:570:31:01

Douglass was a hugely gifted orator and a very charismatic individual.

0:31:010:31:05

During the Civil War era,

0:31:050:31:07

Douglass quite frequently alluded to Burns' songs and poems,

0:31:070:31:12

particularly when trying to encourage men of colour

0:31:120:31:14

to enlist in the union army.

0:31:140:31:16

He would tout the line that, "A man's a man for a' that,"

0:31:160:31:19

regardless of colour.

0:31:190:31:20

Lincoln's fight for the moral right

0:31:210:31:23

would claim well over half a million American lives

0:31:230:31:26

and take over two more years to conclude.

0:31:260:31:29

For over a quarter of his presidency,

0:31:310:31:33

Abraham Lincoln moved his family out here to a cottage

0:31:330:31:37

on what was known as the Soldiers' Home grounds.

0:31:370:31:39

It's considered a healthier climate,

0:31:390:31:42

it's removed from the downtown, swampy part of Washington, DC,

0:31:420:31:46

but in many ways it brings him closer to the war.

0:31:460:31:49

While living at the cottage,

0:32:010:32:02

he's 200 yards away from the first National Cemetery.

0:32:020:32:06

So thousands of soldiers are being buried in plain view

0:32:060:32:10

of Lincoln's front door.

0:32:100:32:12

The final record of Abraham Lincoln's affection for Burns

0:32:280:32:31

comes from his secretary, John Hay.

0:32:310:32:34

He describes the President's mood as

0:32:340:32:36

they travelled down the Potomac River.

0:32:360:32:38

John Hay recollects that in April of 1865, the war has come to an end,

0:32:380:32:44

that Lincoln himself recites extensively

0:32:440:32:47

from Robert Burns without notes, this is all from memory.

0:32:470:32:50

One of the poems that came into Lincoln's mind that day

0:32:520:32:55

is one of Burns' saddest.

0:32:550:32:57

The wind blew hollow frae the hills

0:33:000:33:03

By fits the sun's departing beam

0:33:030:33:06

Look'd on the fading yellow woods

0:33:060:33:08

That wav'd o'er Lugar's winding stream

0:33:080:33:11

Beneath a craigy steep, a Bard

0:33:110:33:14

Laden with years and meikle pain

0:33:140:33:17

In loud lament bewail'd his lord

0:33:170:33:19

Whom Death had all untimely ta'en.

0:33:210:33:23

The bridegroom may forget the bride

0:33:240:33:27

Was made his wedded wife yestreen

0:33:270:33:30

The monarch may forget the crown

0:33:300:33:32

That on his head an hour has been

0:33:320:33:35

The mother may forget the child

0:33:360:33:38

That smiles sae sweetly on her knee

0:33:380:33:41

But I'll remember thee, Glencairn,

0:33:410:33:43

And a' that thou hast done for me!

0:33:430:33:45

-It's a great poem.

-It definitely shows the heartbreak

0:33:470:33:50

that he's going through, you know? It's...

0:33:500:33:53

It's rough.

0:33:530:33:54

It's a long poem.

0:33:540:33:56

Less than a week later,

0:33:580:34:00

Lincoln was assassinated at a theatre in Washington.

0:34:000:34:03

The war, however, was effectively over.

0:34:040:34:08

The fight to end slavery throughout the union had been won.

0:34:080:34:11

And the nation's founding argument of liberty for all had been upheld.

0:34:110:34:15

There was a Scottish Presbyterian minister,

0:34:330:34:36

one of many who objected to Burns,

0:34:360:34:38

because of his drinking and his womanising,

0:34:380:34:40

and he felt that anyone who idolised Burns

0:34:400:34:45

had a disease he called Burnsomania.

0:34:450:34:48

A century later, the disease of Burnsomania had still found no cure.

0:34:500:34:56

In America, the greatest sufferer of all was a Scot

0:34:560:35:00

and a wealthy one at that.

0:35:000:35:02

Andrew Carnegie probably was a Burnsomaniac.

0:35:020:35:05

I do think the connection Carnegie had to Burns was personal

0:35:050:35:10

and was close because of his own upbringing.

0:35:100:35:13

Born and brought up in a cottage in Fife,

0:35:150:35:17

12-year-old Andrew Carnegie moved to Pennsylvania

0:35:170:35:20

with his family in 1848.

0:35:200:35:23

50 years later,

0:35:230:35:25

Carnegie had become the world's richest man

0:35:250:35:28

and one of its biggest philanthropists.

0:35:280:35:30

I think there's no doubt that his eventual decision to divest himself

0:35:320:35:36

of much of his wealth

0:35:360:35:38

and to establish all kinds of charitable funds,

0:35:380:35:41

half to do with a good nature,

0:35:410:35:43

but part of it actually is a Scottish self-conception.

0:35:430:35:47

It's the Burnsian myth that you don't need lots of money

0:35:470:35:52

and that money isn't the most important thing.

0:35:520:35:55

Carnegie gave away around 90% of his fortune.

0:35:580:36:02

Just some of that went into funding 1,679 new libraries

0:36:020:36:07

in America alone.

0:36:070:36:08

The whole Carnegie philanthropic project was about egalitarianism.

0:36:100:36:15

It was about everybody being afforded the same resources

0:36:150:36:18

and the same opportunities to grow

0:36:180:36:22

and to transform themselves.

0:36:220:36:25

The philosophy of Robert Burns really spoke to him in that way

0:36:250:36:29

and really influenced his trajectory.

0:36:290:36:32

From the age of eight, when he first read Burns,

0:36:340:36:37

to his death 75 years later,

0:36:370:36:39

Carnegie's enthusiasm for the poet never waned.

0:36:390:36:42

For many years, he was one of the most sought-after speakers

0:36:450:36:49

of the Burns clubs and the Burns societies around the country.

0:36:490:36:53

And he went to many statue unveilings and gave many talks.

0:36:530:36:57

Just how much Carnegie revered the Bard can be seen

0:37:000:37:03

in his personal notes for a speech he gave

0:37:030:37:05

at an unveiling of a statue of Burns in 1899.

0:37:050:37:08

"Burns occupies and will permanently hold his unique position

0:37:110:37:15

"in other lands than his own.

0:37:150:37:17

"For supreme genius rules over the highest natures of all lands.

0:37:170:37:22

"Its touch makes the whole world kin."

0:37:220:37:25

As Andrew Carnegie began redistributing his wealth,

0:37:270:37:31

other American entrepreneurs began using Burns' fame

0:37:310:37:34

for their own commercial gain.

0:37:340:37:36

The main reason that Burns becomes a commercial figure is quite simply,

0:37:390:37:45

to begin with, that he's so recognisable.

0:37:450:37:48

Burns began to be commercialised in America along with other writers

0:37:480:37:54

on cigar boxes, starting in 1880s and well into the 20th century.

0:37:540:38:00

And unlike most of the poets and authors,

0:38:000:38:04

Robert Burns cigars are still produced and sold in America.

0:38:040:38:08

Thomas Keith is a bit of a Burnsomaniac himself.

0:38:080:38:11

I've been collecting Burns-related bric-a-brac for about 20 years.

0:38:110:38:17

I would say this handbill from 1830 is my favourite object,

0:38:180:38:22

and the reason is that what it's proof of is that somebody

0:38:220:38:25

walking down the street in lower Manhattan

0:38:250:38:28

who's handed this handbill knows exactly who Tam O'Shanter is

0:38:280:38:32

in literature and who Burns is.

0:38:320:38:34

They don't have to be told.

0:38:340:38:36

This is a tin from Robert Burns Segars,

0:38:360:38:41

S-E-G-A-R-S,

0:38:410:38:43

which was manufactured during the Civil War.

0:38:430:38:47

And from about 50 years later,

0:38:470:38:52

here's a tin of Little Bobbie cigars,

0:38:520:38:55

the small Robert Burns cigar.

0:38:550:38:57

There was also Tam O'Shanter tobacco,

0:38:570:39:01

Auld Lang Syne tobacco,

0:39:010:39:03

eventually, Sweet Afton cigarettes.

0:39:030:39:06

There was also Tam O'Shanter beer and ale

0:39:060:39:09

sold out of Rochester, New York.

0:39:090:39:11

Here's a Bobby Burns pop bottle or soda bottle from the 1950s

0:39:110:39:15

and the only thing that remotely identifies it to a Scotsman as Burns

0:39:150:39:20

would be the Glengarrian pipes that he's carrying.

0:39:200:39:24

And I know it's long been the sorrow of many a Scot

0:39:240:39:28

that Americans' diminutive for Burns is Bobby,

0:39:280:39:32

but it's been that way for a long, long time

0:39:320:39:35

and it's a natural evolution from Robert to Rab to Rabbie

0:39:350:39:40

to Robbie to Bobby.

0:39:400:39:41

Sorry.

0:39:430:39:45

All kinds of products, from ornaments to drinks

0:39:450:39:49

are marketed on the back of Robert Burns

0:39:490:39:52

because he is such a convenient, portable, readily available icon.

0:39:520:39:58

People were no longer just collecting books,

0:39:580:40:00

but they were collecting...

0:40:000:40:01

Whether it be snuff boxes, jewellery, erm...

0:40:010:40:06

lots of material culture

0:40:060:40:08

that collectors used to not only preserve the memory of Burns,

0:40:080:40:13

but I think, reify their connection with the poet.

0:40:130:40:17

The Nasmyth portrait of Burns,

0:40:170:40:19

the classic portrait, shows a very handsome young man,

0:40:190:40:23

and that's very helpful.

0:40:230:40:25

Robert Burns, that romantic, slightly tragic, enigmatic figure,

0:40:250:40:30

has a beautiful portrait to go with him.

0:40:300:40:34

And you put those two things together,

0:40:340:40:36

and it's a killer combination for iconicity,

0:40:360:40:40

and also for advertising.

0:40:400:40:42

In America...

0:40:420:40:43

Burns was the 19th-century Elvis.

0:40:450:40:48

That's how popular he was.

0:40:480:40:49

-ELVIS:

-# Lord Almighty

0:40:490:40:51

# I feel my temperature rising

0:40:510:40:53

# Higher, higher... #

0:40:550:40:57

Burns' image was not only ingrained on the products

0:40:570:41:00

Americans found in their homes,

0:41:000:41:02

he was also becoming a focal point in America's biggest cities.

0:41:020:41:05

If the popularity of cultural icons in America were measured

0:41:070:41:10

by the number of statues erected in their honour,

0:41:100:41:13

Burns would be number one.

0:41:130:41:16

# Your kisses lift me higher

0:41:160:41:18

# Like the sweet song of a choir... #

0:41:180:41:20

There are four statues of Stephen Foster,

0:41:200:41:22

five each of Washington Irving and Beethoven,

0:41:220:41:26

six each of Daniel Webster, Shakespeare and Mozart,

0:41:260:41:30

seven of Goethe, eight of Dante,

0:41:300:41:34

12 of Schiller

0:41:340:41:35

and 15 of Robert Burns.

0:41:350:41:37

# A hunk, a hunk of burning love

0:41:380:41:41

# I'm a hunk, a hunk of burning love... #

0:41:410:41:43

And that's how important Burns was and is to Americans.

0:41:430:41:47

# I'm a hunk, a hunk of burning love

0:41:470:41:50

# I'm just a hunk, a hunk of burning love

0:41:500:41:53

# I'm a hunk, a hunk of burning love. #

0:41:530:41:57

Ready?

0:41:590:42:00

But Mousie, thou are no thy lane

0:42:000:42:03

In proving foresight may be vain

0:42:030:42:05

The best-laid schemes o' mice an' men

0:42:050:42:08

Gang aft agley

0:42:080:42:09

An' lea'e us nought but grief an' pain

0:42:090:42:12

For promis'd joy!

0:42:120:42:13

FIDDLE PLAYS

0:42:160:42:18

The mark that Robert Burns left in the States after his death in 1796

0:42:250:42:29

extends way beyond Burns clubs,

0:42:290:42:32

Burns suppers,

0:42:320:42:33

and the effect he may have had on politicians and philanthropists.

0:42:330:42:36

It's in the music and the writing of those that read his work.

0:42:400:42:43

If we think of places along the way

0:42:450:42:48

where Robert Burns sat down,

0:42:480:42:50

he's all over America in the early 19th century.

0:42:500:42:53

I mean, everybody's reading Robert Burns,

0:42:540:42:56

he is probably the most popular poet in the country.

0:42:560:42:59

Walt Whitman was very much affected by Burns,

0:43:000:43:03

Mark Twain reads Burns and then, from there on,

0:43:030:43:06

it's a pretty straight shot, via Woody Guthrie,

0:43:060:43:08

to Bob Dylan.

0:43:080:43:10

# Johnny's in the basement

0:43:100:43:11

# Mixing up the medicine

0:43:110:43:13

# I'm on the pavement

0:43:130:43:14

# Thinking about the government. #

0:43:140:43:16

Bob Dylan's recent award of a Nobel Prize for literature

0:43:160:43:19

not only raised his status as a writer,

0:43:190:43:22

but it focused attention on the post-Civil War lyric poets

0:43:220:43:25

that came before him.

0:43:250:43:26

When asked for his greatest influence

0:43:280:43:30

in a recent poster campaign, the singer surprised many

0:43:300:43:33

by citing the Burns poem My Luve Is Like A Red, Red Rose.

0:43:330:43:37

Perhaps it shouldn't have been such a surprise.

0:43:370:43:40

Dylan is merely the latest of a long line of Americans

0:43:410:43:44

that have looked to the past, and to Burns in particular,

0:43:440:43:47

for inspiration.

0:43:470:43:49

The American Civil War scars the psyche,

0:43:520:43:55

and the idea is... All our industry,

0:43:550:43:57

all our technology, all our rationality has brought us what?

0:43:570:44:01

This big war.

0:44:010:44:03

And after that, American poets like Emerson,

0:44:030:44:06

like Walt Whitman were saying,

0:44:060:44:08

is there something purer that we can get back to?

0:44:080:44:11

As the post-war nation is drawn back to simpler ideals...

0:44:180:44:21

..new poets like Walt Whitman, an early fan of the Bard,

0:44:230:44:27

helped fill the gap that Burns left behind.

0:44:270:44:29

In a way,

0:44:310:44:32

as Burns is to Scotland,

0:44:320:44:35

so Whitman is in the United States.

0:44:350:44:38

He's the father of poetry here.

0:44:380:44:41

Walt was the guy who spoke in the American grain.

0:44:410:44:45

What you see in Whitman is the Everyman.

0:44:450:44:50

You know, he included in his poetry

0:44:500:44:53

the poor, the working class,

0:44:530:44:55

the middle class, the slaves...

0:44:550:44:58

As did Burns.

0:44:580:45:02

Born only 23 years after the early death of the Bard,

0:45:050:45:09

Whitman's New York was full of Celtic music

0:45:090:45:11

and the poetry and songs of Burns.

0:45:110:45:14

There's an essay that Walt wrote

0:45:170:45:19

about Robert Burns as poet and person,

0:45:190:45:23

and, in it, he says,

0:45:230:45:26

"Without the race of which he is a distinct specimen,"

0:45:260:45:30

which would be Burns in Scotland, that was Scottish race,

0:45:300:45:34

"and perhaps his poems,

0:45:340:45:35

"America and her powerful democracy could not exist today.

0:45:350:45:41

And I think that's one of the first similarities you see,

0:45:410:45:44

is that both of these poets

0:45:440:45:47

absolutely had faith in the common folk,

0:45:470:45:51

in the population at large.

0:45:510:45:53

They were totally democratic

0:45:530:45:55

in the way they approached government,

0:45:550:45:58

and the power to the people.

0:45:580:46:01

"Dear Rob," he says in the middle, which is the way you want to see

0:46:010:46:05

these two fellows talking to each other, isn't it?

0:46:050:46:08

"Dear Rob! Manly, witty, fond, friendly,

0:46:080:46:12

"full of weak spots as well as strong ones."

0:46:120:46:15

You know, Whitman just couldn't let it go that this was a great poet.

0:46:150:46:20

He loved Burns for the comradeship, for the feeling of,

0:46:210:46:24

as he would put it, adhesiveness.

0:46:240:46:27

It was hard to be an American writer, in fact, let alone...

0:46:270:46:30

Well, it was hard to be an American, let alone an American writer,

0:46:300:46:33

and not in some way have had some contact with Robert Burns.

0:46:330:46:35

In the 20th century,

0:46:360:46:38

it's American writers of modern classic novels

0:46:380:46:40

that are influenced by the work of Burns.

0:46:400:46:42

American writers are referencing Burns poems

0:46:440:46:48

in terms of the words that the Americans have consumed

0:46:480:46:53

and, indeed, reused in their own works.

0:46:530:46:56

John Steinbeck's 1937 novella

0:46:580:47:01

tells a tragic story of two migrant ranch workers

0:47:010:47:04

who plan their future as they move from place to place

0:47:040:47:07

during America's Great Depression.

0:47:070:47:09

Originally entitled Something That Happened,

0:47:100:47:13

Steinbeck changed the title to Of Mice And Men

0:47:130:47:17

after reading Robert Burns' poem, To A Mouse.

0:47:170:47:20

14 years later, JD Salinger went further,

0:47:240:47:27

incorporating the Burns song Comin' Thro The Rye

0:47:270:47:30

into the plot of his 1951 novel of teenage angst.

0:47:300:47:34

# Comin' thro the rye... #

0:47:340:47:36

Salinger creates a fantasy at the heart of the book

0:47:360:47:39

in which its protagonist, Holden Caulfield,

0:47:390:47:42

misrepresents the song,

0:47:420:47:43

seeing himself as the "catcher in the rye" instead.

0:47:430:47:47

So it's a very, very deep influence.

0:47:470:47:50

The most important thing about that

0:47:500:47:53

is that America has Burns' poetry and songs in its blood,

0:47:530:47:57

in its common language.

0:47:570:47:59

And that's what these writers are riffing on.

0:48:000:48:03

By the mid-20th century,

0:48:030:48:05

the riffing on Burns had extended beyond books to music.

0:48:050:48:08

-BOB DYLAN:

-# Come gather round people

0:48:090:48:11

# Wherever you roam... #

0:48:110:48:13

In New York, those who wanted their music to make a statement

0:48:130:48:16

were drawn to the neighbourhood of Greenwich Village.

0:48:160:48:19

In the early 1960s, the Village was very much the centre

0:48:210:48:24

for, not only literary experimentation

0:48:240:48:26

and playwrights and all the rest of it,

0:48:260:48:28

but for jazz, and particularly for the folk revival.

0:48:280:48:31

# Oh, the times they are a-changin'... #

0:48:310:48:35

The mid-20th century saw another bid for a simpler, more peaceful life.

0:48:350:48:39

Only 20 years after it had ended World War II

0:48:440:48:46

with a nuclear mushroom cloud in Japan,

0:48:460:48:49

America was deeply involved in another bombing war,

0:48:490:48:52

this time in Vietnam.

0:48:520:48:54

# Don't stand in the doorway Don't block up the hall

0:48:540:48:56

# For he that gets hurt will be he who has stalled... #

0:48:560:48:59

When 19-year-old Bob Dylan moved to New York in 1961,

0:48:590:49:02

he was already immersed in the world of folk.

0:49:020:49:05

My dad had a book shop at the corner of 8th street and MacDougal,

0:49:050:49:08

and down MacDougal Street was where Bob Dylan got his start.

0:49:080:49:11

# The times they are a-changin'. #

0:49:110:49:13

I remember hearing A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall

0:49:140:49:17

for the first time as a... How old would I have been?

0:49:170:49:20

'62, I'd have been 11.

0:49:200:49:22

And I loved it immediately.

0:49:220:49:23

I loved the guitar, I loved the raspy voice,

0:49:230:49:27

I loved the way he used words.

0:49:270:49:28

# A hard rain's a-gonna fall... #

0:49:280:49:32

Dylan's idol at the time was another folk singer, Woody Guthrie.

0:49:320:49:37

When Bob Dylan arrived, he was a Woody Guthrie jukebox.

0:49:370:49:40

He was playing Woody Guthrie, Woody Guthrie, all the time.

0:49:400:49:42

He started talking like Woody Guthrie.

0:49:420:49:44

So Guthrie had an enormous impact on Dylan in particular.

0:49:440:49:47

MUSIC: Pastures Of Plenty by Woody Guthrie

0:49:470:49:49

Woody Guthrie was a major figure in the 1940s on the New York scene.

0:49:490:49:51

He's part of this left-wing folk singer world.

0:49:510:49:54

But Guthrie himself was influenced by Robert Burns.

0:49:560:49:59

During World War II, Guthrie was a seaman and his ship was torpedoed,

0:50:000:50:04

and he found himself in Glasgow, of all places.

0:50:040:50:06

After the war, he writes this kind of poetic letter,

0:50:080:50:10

To That Man Robert Burns, and he's addressing Burns directly,

0:50:100:50:14

and telling him about how he'd ended up in Glasgow

0:50:140:50:16

and walking the same clods of earth Burns did,

0:50:160:50:19

and how he had picked up a cheap edition of Burns' poems.

0:50:190:50:24

But he likens himself to Burns, he says, I'm like you.

0:50:240:50:27

We both grew up in the countryside.

0:50:270:50:29

We both grew up out of the cities,

0:50:290:50:30

we've both been chased around by policemen, we both...

0:50:300:50:33

We have a lot in common, you and I, Robert Burns.

0:50:330:50:36

For that moment, he was very much touched by him as a kind of rapport,

0:50:360:50:39

almost a brotherhood that he feels across the centuries.

0:50:390:50:43

# This land is your land. #

0:50:430:50:45

Other folk singers also influenced Bob Dylan.

0:50:450:50:47

Bob Dylan's a sponge.

0:50:480:50:50

And at the heart of the folk revival

0:50:500:50:52

was the entire Anglo-Celtic American tradition in poetry and in song.

0:50:520:50:58

There's a friend of mine who comes from Scotland

0:50:580:51:01

who's also a good singer,

0:51:010:51:03

and I asked her if she'd drop around here today.

0:51:030:51:05

American folk singer and activist Pete Seeger

0:51:050:51:08

was also at the centre of the folk revival,

0:51:080:51:10

as was the young Scottish singer, Jean Redpath.

0:51:100:51:14

Jean Redpath, instead of me talking about your songs,

0:51:140:51:16

I think the best thing would be for you to sing them.

0:51:160:51:18

# And here's a hand

0:51:180:51:21

# My trusty friend

0:51:210:51:25

# And gie's a hand o' thine... #

0:51:250:51:26

A Burns enthusiast who had memorised almost all of Burns' work,

0:51:260:51:30

Redpath shared a house in the Village with Dylan.

0:51:300:51:34

Her goal was to record all 323 songs written by Burns.

0:51:340:51:38

# For auld lang syne. #

0:51:380:51:40

And it's impossible to imagine that Dylan would not have been listening

0:51:400:51:43

to a good deal of Burns poetry at that time.

0:51:430:51:46

Where'd the song come from, anyway?

0:51:470:51:50

-Robbie Burns wrote it.

-He wrote it?

0:51:500:51:52

Mm-hm.

0:51:520:51:53

Robbie Burr-ns. I thought it was Burns, but it's not.

0:51:540:51:57

It's Burns in this country, it's Burr-ns in Scotland.

0:51:570:51:59

Burr-ns. Robbie Burr-ns.

0:51:590:52:02

Burns comes to him two ways.

0:52:040:52:06

I mean, one is through this Celtic tradition,

0:52:060:52:09

Jean Redpath and all the rest, they're there.

0:52:090:52:12

But he's also going to be reading Burns as a poet.

0:52:120:52:14

I mean, he's very taken with Byron,

0:52:140:52:16

he's very taken with Shelley and, you know,

0:52:160:52:18

Burns is not too far out of that mix,

0:52:180:52:21

as far as Dylan would've been concerned.

0:52:210:52:23

Burns meant a lot to him,

0:52:230:52:25

and he would've picked up on Burns in those days.

0:52:250:52:28

I absolutely think there's a connection between Bobby Burns

0:52:280:52:33

and Bobby Dylan. You know?

0:52:330:52:35

Burns is a true, true influence for him.

0:52:360:52:41

You can hear it in the way he sings.

0:52:410:52:43

He actually has a song called Farewell,

0:52:430:52:46

where he starts off the song saying,

0:52:460:52:48

"Fare thee well, my own true love."

0:52:480:52:50

# Fare thee well my darling true

0:52:500:52:53

# I'm leaving in the first hour of the morn. #

0:52:530:52:57

Bob Dylan has read and listened to Robert Burns,

0:52:590:53:02

in poetry and in song, and, of course,

0:53:020:53:06

he cites A Red Rose as one of the greatest songs ever.

0:53:060:53:11

Both Burns and Bob Dylan are the great lyric poets of their day.

0:53:110:53:15

I mean, Burns' verse is meant to be sung.

0:53:150:53:19

Well, Bob Dylan's verse is meant to be sung.

0:53:190:53:21

So, in that sense, they are very much a part of the same brotherhood,

0:53:220:53:26

and Bob Dylan really is the Bobby Burns of his day,

0:53:260:53:29

and Robert Burns was the Bob Dylan of the end of the 18th century.

0:53:290:53:32

Right, ready?

0:53:350:53:37

O my Luve's like a red, red rose

0:53:370:53:40

That's newly sprung in June

0:53:400:53:42

O my Luve's like the melodie

0:53:430:53:45

That's sweetly play'd in tune

0:53:450:53:47

As fair art thou, my bonie lass

0:53:480:53:50

So deep in luve am I

0:53:500:53:52

And I will luve thee still, my dear

0:53:520:53:54

Till a' the seas gang dry

0:53:540:53:56

Till a' the seas gang dry, my dear

0:53:580:54:00

And the rocks melt wi' the sun

0:54:000:54:03

And I will luve thee still, my dear

0:54:030:54:05

While the sands o' life shall run,

0:54:050:54:07

And fare-thee-weel, my only Luve!

0:54:070:54:10

And fare-thee-weel, a while!

0:54:100:54:12

And I will come again, my Luve

0:54:120:54:14

Tho' 'twere ten thousand mile!

0:54:140:54:16

This man puts words together just like that.

0:54:180:54:20

And that's what I love about it.

0:54:200:54:22

America took the work of Burns to its heart in the 19th century.

0:54:340:54:38

In the 20th, it gave his biggest hit back to the world

0:54:380:54:41

with a whole new purpose.

0:54:410:54:43

Auld Lang Syne had become so popular

0:54:460:54:50

that it replaced A Man's A Man For A' That

0:54:500:54:54

as the way to end Burns Night suppers.

0:54:540:54:56

And by Victorian times,

0:54:560:54:59

it was all purpose.

0:54:590:55:01

For Auld Lang Syne this Halloween,

0:55:010:55:03

For Auld Lang Syne on the Fourth Of July,

0:55:030:55:05

For Auld Lang Syne for your birthday.

0:55:050:55:07

It was for everything.

0:55:070:55:09

Until Guy Lombardo got a hold of it.

0:55:090:55:11

MUSIC: Auld Lang Syne

0:55:110:55:13

It's Guy Lombardo and his band

0:55:160:55:18

that is almost solely responsible for ensuring that Auld Lang Syne

0:55:180:55:22

became the song for New Year's Eve.

0:55:220:55:25

By the time I was a kid, New Year's Eve

0:55:260:55:28

was about listening to Guy Lombardo's band, orchestra,

0:55:280:55:32

on the television to, you know, ring in the New Year.

0:55:320:55:35

And they'd always play Auld Lang Syne.

0:55:350:55:37

Auld Lang Syne had become the New Year's song long before that,

0:55:410:55:43

but Guy Lombardo was absolute New Year's Eve kitsch.

0:55:430:55:47

I mean, it was middle America,

0:55:470:55:48

it was what people listened to.

0:55:480:55:50

It was so corny, even we listened to it,

0:55:500:55:52

us sophisticated villagers,

0:55:520:55:54

because it was there.

0:55:540:55:55

Happy New Year, everybody! A very happy New Year.

0:55:570:56:01

Especially from all of us and especially from Clairol,

0:56:010:56:05

the first name in hair colour!

0:56:050:56:08

It's kind of become a theme song

0:56:080:56:10

for a very boring kind of drunken escapade

0:56:100:56:12

on the 31st of every December.

0:56:120:56:15

I wish we could detach it from New Year's Eve!

0:56:160:56:20

Am I trying to do that accent?

0:56:200:56:22

No, do what you gotta do. Just go through it, just read it.

0:56:220:56:24

-All right.

-Just read, that's all.

-All right.

0:56:240:56:26

It's an interesting poem about remembrance,

0:56:260:56:30

and about loss, really.

0:56:300:56:32

And we have to remember what we lose.

0:56:320:56:36

-BOTH:

-Should auld acquaintance be forgot

0:56:360:56:39

And never brought to mind?

0:56:390:56:41

Should auld acquaintance be forgot

0:56:410:56:44

And auld lang syne!

0:56:440:56:46

For auld lang syne, my dear

0:56:460:56:48

For auld lang syne

0:56:480:56:50

We'll tak' a cup o' kindness yet

0:56:500:56:53

For auld lang syne.

0:56:530:56:54

Yay! Woohoo!

0:56:540:56:56

Give me a high five, friend!

0:56:560:56:58

When Guy Lombardo and his Royal Canadians

0:56:590:57:03

made it their midnight song on New Year's Eve,

0:57:030:57:07

people started to copy that.

0:57:070:57:09

And, most importantly, it started to be copied in the movies,

0:57:090:57:13

and the most famous occasion for that, of course,

0:57:130:57:15

is in It's A Wonderful Life,

0:57:150:57:17

when the brothers are reunited,

0:57:170:57:19

and the whole town's there to support Jimmy Stewart,

0:57:190:57:22

and they all break into Auld Lang Syne.

0:57:220:57:24

To my big brother, George.

0:57:240:57:26

The richest man in town!

0:57:260:57:28

THEY CHEER

0:57:280:57:29

# Should auld acquaintance be forgot

0:57:300:57:35

# And never brought to mind?

0:57:350:57:41

# We'll drink a cup of kindness yet

0:57:410:57:46

# For auld lang syne. #

0:57:460:57:51

It's meant to make you cry.

0:57:510:57:53

And it usually works.

0:57:530:57:54

Robert Burns once joked

0:57:580:58:00

that he would be more famous after his death than during his life.

0:58:000:58:03

He died with no concept of how, centuries later,

0:58:050:58:08

he would be revered in America,

0:58:080:58:10

thousands of miles from Scotland.

0:58:100:58:11

No notion of how his poetry and songs could be reinterpreted

0:58:120:58:16

or how his thoughts might inspire some of the most significant figures

0:58:160:58:19

in American history, helping the lives of millions.

0:58:190:58:23

Robert Burns never travelled to America.

0:58:250:58:28

He didn't need to.

0:58:280:58:29

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