Tune Donald Blue -
O how can I be blythe & glad,
Or how can I gang brisk & braw;
When the bonie lad that I lo'e best,
Is o'er the hills & far awa. -
Its no the frosty winter wind,
Its no the driving drift & snaw
But ay the tear comes in my e'e,
To think on him that's far awa.-
My father pat me frae his door,
My friends they hae disown'd me a'
But I hae ane will tak my part,
The bonie lad that's far awa.-
A pair o'gloves he gave to me,
And silken snoods he gave me twa;
And I will wear them for his sake,
The bonie lad that's far awa. -
The weary winter soon will pass,
And spring will deed the birken-shaw
And my sweet babie will be born,
And he'll come hame that's far awa.-
_________________
Key details
- Archive number
- NTS/02/25/BRN/02/120
- Alt. number
- 3.6284
- On display
- No
- Creator
- Burns, Robert (Author)
- Archive number
- NTS/02/25/BRN/02/120
- Alt. number
- 3.6284
- On display
- No
- Creator
- Burns, Robert (Author)
Description
The bonie lad that's far awa. Begins: "O how can I be blythe and glad". A poem modelled on the 17th century ballad "The Unconstant Shepherd or the Forsaken Lass's Lamentation". 5 Four-line verses.
Burns based this song on the seventeenth century ballad The Unconstant Shepherd; or, the Forsaken Lass's Lamentation. It is set to the tune of Donald Blue. The song appeared in both Johnson's Scots Musical Museum in 1792 as well as Thomson's A Select Collection of Original Scottish Airs for the Voice.
Archive information
Themes
Hierarchy
-
Robert Burns, collection of poems and songs
(
a sub-fonds is a subdivision in the archival material)
- The bonie lad that's far awa
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