ABSTRACT
The Wash Act of 1784 and the 1786 revised code that first elicited Burns's wrath in "Scotch Drink" were designed, as Vivien Dietz points out, to increase revenues by standardizing the "excise" tax on distilleries. Theodor Adorno, among the most influential of modern theorists of music, offers an account of the role of music in the process of economic rationalization that explains Burns' s and Moore's eagerness to attach a "national" character to the "native" air particularly well. The national air is the product of the air's exposure to print-capitalism. Moore provides notes that identify political, historical, and mythic references in the lyrics, the fact that he attaches new words and new references to traditional airs disables any attempt to read the Melodies as an authentically Irish form of cultural memory. The modulations of the Irish harp and the Scotch snap do not alter the chemical composition of the air through which they resonate.
