A Red, Red Rose may have been inspired by the concept of deep time put forward a few years earlier by geologist James Hutton in his "Theory of the Earth" in 1789 . Hutton and Burns were contemporaries, and would have mixed in similar circles in Edinburgh. A Red, Red Rose "A Red, Red Rose" is a 1794 song in Scots by Robert Burns based on traditional sources. The song is also referred to by the title "Oh, My Love is Like a Red, Red Rose", "My Love is Like a Red, Red Rose" or "Red, Red Rose" and is often published as a
A Red, Red Rose to Scots singer Pietro Urbani who published it in his "Scots Songs". In his book, Urbani claimed "the words of The Red Red Rose were obligingly given to him by a celebrated Scots poet, who was so struck by them when sung by a country girl that he wrote them down and, not being pleased with the air, begged the author to set them to music in the style of a Scots tune, which he has done accordingly." In other correspondence, Burns referred to it as a "simple old Scots song which I had picked up in the country." Other