Career
He is also the subject of a famous poem by Burns, later set to music called "John Anderson My Jo, John."
He is buried in Kilchuimen Burial Ground, Fort Augustus with a Scottish Heritage plaque. The heritage plaque reads:
"John Anderson. My Jo. Gifted by the family of the late Norman Watters Past President of Bowhill People"s Burns Club"
The stone reads:
Despite the claim recorded in the heritage plaque above, Burns" poem is based on an earlier poem of the same title and metre:
John Anderson, my jo, John I wonder what you mean To lie sae lang in the morning And sit sae late at e"en.
The earlier version was extant c.1744, and is a mildly bawdy ballad in which the wife berates John for his waning performance in bed, recalls his former ardour, and threatens him with the cuckold"s horns if he doesn"t deliver:.
But "tis a mickle finer thing To see your hurdies fyke To see your hurdies fyke, John And hit the rising blow "Tis then I like your chanter pipe John Anderson, my jo. The editors of the Canongate Burns (2001) offer no explanation for Burns"s adaptation of the old song of six stanzas into a two verse celebration of love into old age (Burns himself died at the age of 37).