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How lang and dreary is the night
When I am frae my Dearie;
I restless lie frae e'en to morn
Though I were ne'er sae weary.
Chorus. -- For oh, her lanely nights are lang!
And oh, her dreams are eerie;
And oh, her window'd heart is sair,
That's absent frae her Dearie!
When I think on the lightsome days
I spent wi' thee, my Dearie;
And now what seas between us roar,
How can I be but eerie?
For oh, &c.
How slow ye move, ye heavy hours;
The joyless day how dreary:
It was na sae ye glinted by,
When I was wi' my Dearie!
For oh, &c.
A. Beach sets stanzas 1, 3-4
M. White sets stanzas 3, 4
About the headline (FAQ)
View text with all available footnotesConfirmed with Burns, Robert. Poems and Songs, Vol. VI. The Harvard Classics. New York: P.F. Collier & Son, 1909–14;
Note: the Burns text appears in the White score as if it is a translation of this German text (or vice versa), but although they are both set to the same music, they are unrelated textually.
Glossary:
Eerie = affected with fear or dread
Window'd = widowed
Glinted = passed quickly like a transient gleam
Text Authorship:
- by Robert Burns (1759 - 1796), "Song -- How lang and dreary is the night" [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 18
Word count: 118
Comme la nuit est longue et maussade, Quand je suis séparée de mon chéri ! Sans repos, je suis allongée du soir au matin Et je n'ai jamais été aussi fatiguée. Refrain. Ô pour elle les nuits sont longues et solitaires ! Ô, ses rêves sont épouvantables, Ô, son cœur veuf est affligé, Elle est séparée de son chéri ! Quand je pense aux jours lumineux¹ Que j'ai passés avec toi, mon chéri, Et maintenant qu'entre nous rugissent² des mers³, Comment ne puis-je être épouvantée ? Comme vous avancez lentement, heures pesantes ! Comme ce triste jour est maussade !⁴ Ce n'est pas ainsi que vous brilliez, Quand j'étais avec mon chéri !
A. Beach a mis en musique les strophes 1-3 (sans refrain)
M. White a mis en musique les strophes 2-3
Text Authorship:
- Translation from Scottish (Scots) to French (Français) copyright © 2014 by Pierre Mathé, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
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Based on:
- a text in Scottish (Scots) by Robert Burns (1759 - 1796), "Song -- How lang and dreary is the night"
This text was added to the website: 2014-08-04
Line count: 17
Word count: 107