Of a' the airts the wind can blaw

Of a' the airts the wind can blaw, 
	I dearly like the west, 
For there the bonnie Lassie lives, 
  The Lassie I lo'e best: 
There's wild-woods grow, and rivers row, 
  And mony a hill between; 
But day and night my fancy's flight 
  Is ever wi' my Jean. 

I see her in the dewy flowers, 
  I see her sweet and fair; 
I hear her in the tunefu' birds, 
  I hear her charm the air: 
There's not a bonnie flower that springs 
  By fountain, shaw, or green; 
There's not a bonnie bird that sings, 
  But minds me o' my Jean.

Translation(s): DAN FRE GER GER GER

List of language codes

About the headline (FAQ)

Authorship

• by Robert Burns (1759 - 1796), no title, written 1788 [ author's text checked 1 time]

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive)

• by David Arditti (b. 1964), "I Love my Jean", op. 1 no. 4, first performed 1994, from Burns Songs, no. 4. [ sung text checked 1 time]
• by (Franz) Joseph Haydn (1732 - 1809), "The Poet's ain Jean", Hob. XXXIa:230, JHW. XXXII/3 no. 219. [voice and piano] [ sung text checked 1 time]
• by Mervyn, Lord Horder, the Second Baron of Ashford (1910 - 1998), "My Jean" [voice and piano], from Five Burns Songs, no. 3. [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
• by Francis George Scott (1880 - 1958), "Of a' the airts the wind can blaw", published 1936 [baritone and piano], from Scottish Lyrics, Book 4, no. 2, Bayley & Ferguson [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
• by Maude Valérie White (1855 - 1937), "The lassie I love best", published 1876 [voice and piano], London: Duncan Davison [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

• Also set in Danish (Dansk), a translation by Caspara Preezmann (1792 - 1876) [an adaptation] FRE GER GER GER by Agathe Ursula Backer-Grøndahl.
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• Also set in French (Français), a translation by Henri-François-Louis-Auguste Potez (1863 - 19??) DAN GER GER GER by André Gédalge.
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• Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by (Johann) Philipp Kaufmann (1802 - 1846) , no title, appears in Gedichte von Robert Burns [an adaptation] DAN FRE by Hans Michael Schletterer.
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• Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Wilhelm Christoph Leonhard Gerhard (1780 - 1858) , "Meine Jean" DAN ENG FRE by Karl Anton Florian Eckert, Moritz Hauptmann.
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• Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist DAN FRE by Ignaz Brüll.
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Text added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.

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