Discusses varying editorial opinions on the origin and authorship of the radical song, "Why Should We Idly Waste Our Prime," first included in a Burns edition in the 1830s, and undertakes textual comparison between a number of versions of the song printed in the mid-1790s and later, in London, Belfast, and Newcastle, to suggest the ways in which such songs might be adapted and modified to fit changing political circumstances. Current version an unedited prepublication text, not in final form or with pagination.