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by Allan Ramsay (1686 - 1758)

Fy gar rub her o'er wi' strae
Language: English 
And gin ye meet a bonny lassie, 
Gie'er a kiss, and let her gae,
But gin ye meet a dirty hussy, 
Fy gar rub her o'er wi' strae.
Be sure ye dinna quit the grip, 
Of ilka joy, when ye are young,
Before auld age your vitals nip, 
And lay ye twa-fauld o'er a rung.

Sweet youth's a blyth and heartsome time; 
Then, lads and lasses, while 'tis May,
Gae pu' the gowan in its prime, 
Before it wither and decay.
Watch the saft minutes of delyte, 
When Jenny speaks beneath her breath,
And kisses, laying a' the wyte 
On you, if she kepp ony skaith.

GLOSSARY
Gin = if
Gar = force, make
Strae = straw
Ilka = every
Gowan = flower of the daisy, dandelion, hawkweed
Wyte = blame
Kepp = met with
Skaith = injury supposed to proceed from witchcraft

Text Authorship:

  • by Allan Ramsay (1686 - 1758) [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]

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

  • by (Franz) Joseph Haydn (1732 - 1809), "Fy gar rub her o'er wi' strae", JHW. XXXII/1 no. 7, Hob. XXXIa no. 7. [
     text verified 1 time
    ]

Researcher for this page: Ferdinando Albeggiani

This text was added to the website: 2012-08-14
Line count: 16
Word count: 106

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