Twist ye, twine ye! even so, Mingle shades of joy and woe, Hope, and fear, and peace, and strife, In the thread of human life. While the mystic twist is spinning, And the infant's life beginning, Dimly seen through twilight bending, Lo, what varied shapes attending! Passions wild, and follies vain, Pleasures soon exchanged for pain; Doubt, and jealousy, and fear, In the magic dance appear. Now they wax, and now they dwindle, Whirling with the whirling spindle. Twist ye, twine ye! even so, Mingle human bliss and woe. -
Scottish Lyrics, Book 3
by Francis George Scott (1880 - 1958)
1. Twist ye, twine ye  [sung text not yet checked]
Authorship:
- by Walter Scott, Sir (1771 - 1832), ""Twist ye, twine ye"", written 1815, appears in Guy Mannering or The Astrologer , Archibald Constable and Co. Edinburgh and Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, London, first published 1815
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Confirmed with Sir Walter Scott, Scott's Poetical Works,Wordsworth Edition Limited, Ware, Hertfordshire, 1995, page 475.
Songs of Meg Merrilies - Guy Mannering or The Astrologer Vol 1, Chap iiiResearcher for this page: Iain Sneddon [Guest Editor]
2. The auld man's mear's dead  [sung text not yet checked]
The auld man's mear's dead; The puir body's mear's dead; The auld man's mear's dead, A mile aboon Dundee. There was hay to ca', and lint to lead, A hunder hotts o' muck to spread, And peats and truffs and a' to lead — And yet the jaud to dee! She had the fiercie and the fleuk, The wheezloch and the wanton yeuk; On ilka knee she had a breuk — What ail'd the beast to dee? She was lang-tooth'd and blench-lippit, Heam-hough'd and haggis-fittit, Lang-neckit, chandler-chaftit, And yet the jaud to dee!
Authorship:
- by Patrick Birnie (flourished late 17th - early 18th centuries), "The auld man's mear"
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Confirmed with, The Book of Scottish Song, edited by Alexander Whitelaw, Blackie and Son, Glasgow, 1843, page 128. This is the first version.
Researcher for this page: Iain Sneddon [Guest Editor]
3. Rorate caeli desuper (Of the Nativity of Christ)  [sung text checked 1 time]
Rorate, celi, desuper! Hevins distill your balmy schouris, For now is rissin the brycht day ster Fro the ros Mary, flour of flouris. The cleir sone quhome no clud devouris, Surminting Phebus in the est Is cumin of His hevinly touris; Et nobis puer natus est. Syng, hevin imperiall, most of hicht, Regions of air mak armony; All fische in flud and foull of flicht Be myrthfull and mak melody. All Gloria in excelsis cry - Hevin, erd, se, man, bird, and best - He that is crownit abone the sky Pro nobis puer natus est.
Authorship:
- by William Dunbar (1465 - 1520?), no title
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Confirmed with, William Dunbar - Poems, edited by James Kinsley. Published by Oxford University Press 1958. Page 1
English translation of the title is: "Drop down, ye heavens, from above" (King James Bible: Isaiah Chapter 45, Verse 8)
Modernized version of Stanzas 1 and 7(used by Scott):Rorate, celi, desuper! Heav’n distil your balmy show’rs, For now is ris’n the bricht day ster, Fro the Rose Mary, flow’r of flow’rs: The clear sun, whom no cloud devours, Surmounting Phoebus in the east, Is coming of his heav’nly towers; Et nobis puer natus est. Sing, heav’n imperial, most of hicht, Regions of air mak harmony; All fish in flood and fowl of flight, Be mirthful and mak melody. All Gloria in excelsis cry, Heav’n, Earth, Sea, Man, Bird, and Best, He that is crown’d above the sky, Pro nobis puer natus est.
Researcher for this page: Iain Sneddon [Guest Editor]
4. Wheesht, wheesht  [sung text checked 1 time]
Wheesht, wheesht, my foolish hert [ ... ]
Authorship:
- by Christopher Murray Grieve (1892 - 1978), "Wheesht, Wheesht", appears in Penny Wheep, no. 2, William Blackwood & Sons, Edinburgh, first published 1926, copyright ©
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Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Iain Sneddon) , "Quiet, quiet", copyright © 2018, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Confirmed with The Complete Poems of Hugh MacDiarmid, Volume 1, edited by Michael Grieve and W R Aitken, Penguin Books, Middlesex, 1985, page 45.
5. The eemis stane  [sung text checked 1 time]
I’ the how-dumb-died o’ the cauld hairst nicht [ ... ]
Authorship:
- by Christopher Murray Grieve (1892 - 1978), as Hugh MacDiarmid, "The Eemis Stane", appears in Sangschaw, no. 13, W. Blackwood & Sons, Edinburgh, first published 1925, copyright ©
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This text may be copyright, so we will not display it until we obtain permission to do so or discover it is public-domain.Confirmed with The Complete Poems of Hugh MacDiarmid, Volume 1, edited by Michael Grieve and W R Aitken, Penguin Books, Middlesex, 1985, page 27
6. Crowdieknowe  [sung text checked 1 time]
Oh to be at Crowdieknowe [ ... ]
Authorship:
- by Christopher Murray Grieve (1892 - 1978), as Hugh MacDiarmid, "Crowdieknowe", appears in Sangschaw, no. 11, first published 1925, copyright ©
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This text may be copyright, so we will not display it until we obtain permission to do so or discover it is public-domain.Confirmed with The Complete Poems of Hugh MacDiarmid, Volume 1, edited by Michael Grieve and W R Aitken, Penguin Books, Middlesex, 1985, page 26.
7. Moonstruck  [sung text checked 1 time]
When the warl’s couped soon’ as a peerie [ ... ]
Authorship:
- by Christopher Murray Grieve (1892 - 1978), as Hugh MacDiarmid, "Moonstruck", appears in Sangschaw, in 9. Au Clair de la Lune, no. 2, first published 1925, copyright ©
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This text may be copyright, so we will not display it until we obtain permission to do so or discover it is public-domain.Confirmed with The Complete Poems of Hugh MacDiarmid, Volume 1, edited by Michael Grieve and W R Aitken, Penguin Books, Middlesex, 1985, page 24.
8. St. Brendan's graveyard: Isle of Barra  [sung text checked 1 time]
High up here they rest, their long day’s work done, Above the stark rocks that bastion the shore. They are drench’d by the rain, warm’d by the sun, Awaiting the day when Time is no more. Coarse grass their coverlet, tansy of gold, Rude cross their headstone, with “Pray for the soul,” “Rest here in peace,” till the Book’s leaves unfold. They rest as they lived, where the green breakers roll, Where waves surge and thunder, surf dashes high; Grey mist and chill rains watch over their sleep. High over their beds the white seabirds cry, Winds’ sough and seas’ moan are the dreich lullaby Of souls that still cling to the shadowy deep.
Authorship:
- by Jean Lang (flourished 1910-1925)
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Researcher for this page: Iain Sneddon [Guest Editor]9. Love  [sung text not yet checked]
A luvin’ wumman is a licht [ ... ]
Authorship:
- by Christopher Murray Grieve (1892 - 1978), "Love", appears in Penny Wheep, no. 10, first published 1926, copyright ©
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This text may be copyright, so we will not display it until we obtain permission to do so or discover it is public-domain.Confirmed with, The Complete Poems of Hugh MacDiarmid, Volume 1, edited by Michael Grieve and W R Aitken. Published by Penguin Books, Middlesex, 1985. Page 102
10. Cupid and Venus  [sung text checked 1 time]
Fra bank to bank, fra wood to wood I rin, Ourhailit with my feeble fantasie; Like til a leaf that fallis from a tree, Or till a reed ourblawin with the win. Twa gods guides me: the ane of them is blin, Yea and a bairn brocht up in vanitie; The next a wife ingenrit of the sea, And lichter nor a dauphin with her fin. Unhappy is the man for evermair That tills the sand and sawis in the air; But twice unhappier is he, I lairn, That feedis in his hairt a mad desire, And follows on a woman thro the fire, Led by a blind and teachit by a bairn.
Authorship:
- by Mark Alexander Boyd (1563 - 1601), "Cupid and Venus"
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Researcher for this page: Iain Sneddon [Guest Editor]11. Milkwort and Bog‑cotton  [sung text checked 1 time]
Cwa’ een like milk-wort and bog-cotton hair! [ ... ]
Authorship:
- by Christopher Murray Grieve (1892 - 1978), as Hugh MacDiarmid, "Milk-Wort and Bog-Cotton", appears in Scots Unbound and Other Poems, no. 2, first published 1932, copyright ©
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This text may be copyright, so we will not display it until we obtain permission to do so or discover it is public-domain.Confirmed with The Complete Poems of Hugh MacDiarmid, Volume 1, edited by Michael Grieve and W R Aitken, Penguin Books, Middlesex, 1985, page 331
12. An Apprentice Angel  [sung text checked 1 time]
As the dragonfly’s hideous larva creeps [ ... ]
Authorship:
- by Christopher Murray Grieve (1892 - 1978), as Hugh MacDiarmid, "An Apprentice Angel (II)", appears in Scots Unbound and Other Poems, no. 4, first published 1932, copyright ©
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This text may be copyright, so we will not display it until we obtain permission to do so or discover it is public-domain.Confirmed with The Complete Poems of Hugh MacDiarmid, Volume 1, edited by Michael Grieve and W R Aitken, Penguin Books, Middlesex, 1985, Page 333.