A Perth -born songwriter who is learning, recording and rewriting 892 Robert Burns songs is nearing the halfway stage of his immense musical rejuvenation project.
Come May 25, Eddie Cairney (70) will have completed song number 446 in his revamp of the National Bard’s lengthy musical discography.
The project was launched on July 21 last year to mark the 225th anniversary of Burns’ passing and will take until March 2023 to complete.
Eddie said that Burns had a very short career as a writer, no more than 10 years, but that in that time he managed to craft some of the greatest song lyrics ever written.
He was a musician, could play the violin and notate music but his attempts at composing were not a success, so he gave it up and instead relied on collecting tradition tunes which he crafted his lyrics around.
Eddie said because of Burns’s untimely death at just 37 he didn’t have time to form collaborations with composers of the day.
The local musician also felt for years that the handful of known songs by Burns has not yet fully revealed his true greatness as a songwriter, prompting him to set out and redress that.
“I am not sure but it could be the biggest rewrite project ever undertaken,” Eddie said.
“Every Wednesday I finish a new album, and post the songs on Facebook almost every single day.
“I have had a lot of flattering comments about the project, mostly through Facebook.
He added: “I have learned a lot about him in this time. There is a lot of rubbish been spoken about him over the years I feel.
“Robert Burns was a great poet, but in actual fact he was mainly a songwriter. Through the poems and songs you can see what the guy was really like. He was definitely eccentric.
“He was going to be a slave runner in Jamaica but he could not have done that job I think.
“He had more ideas that were practical and he lived in his own head.
“His wife gave him a lot of leeway and he even wrote a touching song about his illegitimate daughter after his wife welcomed her in to their home. He was a nice person but was a bit neurotic.”
Eddie hopes his new collection of songs will rekindle people’s interest in Burns.
The songs have been written in several different styles so “there’s a song for everyone”.
He is keen that these new songs of Robert Burns should be there as a resource for schools, groups and individuals.
One new album is released every Wednesday and can be accessed via https://rbtns.scot
