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Five Burns Songs

Song Cycle by Mervyn, Lord Horder, the Second Baron of Ashford (1910 - 1998)

1. A red, red rose  [sung text not yet checked]

Language: Scottish (Scots) 
O my [Luve's]1 like a red, red rose 
  That's newly sprung in June: 
O my [Luve's]1 like the melodie 
  That's sweetly play'd in tune. 

As fair art thou, my bonnie lass, 
  [So]2 deep in luve am I: 
And I will luve thee still, my dear, 
  Till a' the seas gang dry: 

Till a' the seas gang dry, my dear, 
  And the rocks melt wi' the sun; 
I will luve thee still, my dear, 
  While the sands o' life shall run. 

And fare thee weel, my only Luve! 
  And fare thee weel a while! 
And I will come again, my Luve, 
  Tho' it were ten thousand mile.

Text Authorship:

  • by Robert Burns (1759 - 1796)

See other settings of this text.

Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

  • SWG Swiss German (Schwizerdütsch) (August Corrodi) , "Min schatz ist wienes Röseli", first published 1870
  • CZE Czech (Čeština) (Josef Václav Sládek) , "Má milá jest jak růžička"
  • FRE French (Français) (Pierre Mathé) , copyright © 2019, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • GRE Greek (Ελληνικά) [singable] (Christakis Poumbouris) , "Η π’ αγαπώ ’ναι ρόδο ροζ", copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • HUN Hungarian (Magyar) (József Lévay) , "Szerelmem, mint piros rózsa..."
  • IRI Irish (Gaelic) [singable] (Gabriel Rosenstock) , copyright © 2014, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

View original text (without footnotes)

Note: due to a similarity in first lines, Berg's song O wär' mein Lieb' jen' Röslein roth is often erroneously indicated as a translation of this poem.

1 Beach and Scott: "Luve is"; Bacon: "love's"
2 Scott: "Sae"

Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Iain Sneddon [Guest Editor]

2. O whistle and I'll come to you  [sung text not yet checked]

Language: Scottish (Scots) 
Chorus
  O whistle, [an']1 I'll come to ye, my lad,
  O whistle, [an']1 I'll come to ye, my lad;
  Tho' [fahther]2, [an']1 mother, [an']1 a' should gae mad,
    [O, whistle an' I'll come to ye, my lad!]3

I
But warily tent, when ye come to court me,
And come nae unless the back-yett be a-jee;
Syne up the back-style and let naebody see,
  And come as ye were na comin to me ,
  And come as ye were na comin to me !

II
At kirk, or at market whene'er ye meet me, 
Gang by me as tho' that ye car'd nae a flie;
But steal me a blink o' your bonie black e'e,
  Yet look as ye were na lookin at me,
  Yet look as ye were na lookin at me.

III
Ay vow and protest that ye care na for me,
And whyles ye may lightly my beauty a wee;
But court nae anither, tho' jokin ye be,
  For fear that she wyle your fancy frae me,
  For fear that she wyle your fancy frae me.

Text Authorship:

  • by Robert Burns (1759 - 1796), "O, whistle an' I'll come to ye, my lad!"

See other settings of this text.

View original text (without footnotes)

Confirmed with The Poetry of Robert Burns, edited by William Ernest Henley and Thomas F. Henderson. Vol. III, Songs. Edinburgh, 1897. Note: in some editions, the fourth line of the chorus reads "Thy Jeanie will venture wi' ye, my lad."

1 Hopekirk: "and"
2 Hopekirk: "father"
3 omitted by Hopekirk

Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Andrew Schneider [Guest Editor] , Johann Winkler

3. My Jean  [sung text not yet checked]

Language: Scottish (Scots) 
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.

Text Authorship:

  • by Robert Burns (1759 - 1796), no title, written 1788

See other settings of this text.

Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

  • CZE Czech (Čeština) (Josef Václav Sládek) , "Všech úhlů světa"

Tune: Miss Admiral Gordon's Strathspey

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

4. John Anderson, my jo  [sung text not yet checked]

Language: Scottish (Scots) 
John Anderson, my jo, John, 
  When we were first acquent, 
Your locks were like the raven, 
  Your bonie brow was brent; 
But now your brow is beld, John, 
  Your locks are like the snaw; 
But blessings on your frosty pow, 
  John Anderson, my jo! 

John Anderson, my jo, John, 
  We clamb the hill thegither, 
And mony a cantie day, John, 
  We've had wi' ane anither: 
Now we maun totter down, John, 
  But hand in hand we'll go, 
And sleep thegither at the foot, 
  John Anderson, my jo!

Text Authorship:

  • by Robert Burns (1759 - 1796), "John Anderson, my jo"

See other settings of this text.

Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

  • CZE Czech (Čeština) (Josef Václav Sládek) , "Jan Andersen"
  • FIN Finnish (Suomi) (Valter Juva) , "John Anderson"
  • FRE French (Français) (Pierre Mathé) , "John Anderson, mon chéri", copyright © 2014, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • HUN Hungarian (Magyar) (József Lévay) , "John Anderson"
  • POL Polish (Polski) (Jan Kasprowicz) , "Dżon Anderson, ty mój!", Warsaw, first published 1907
  • RUS Russian (Русский) (Mikhail Larionovich Mikhailov) , no title, first published 1856

Confirmed with The Complete Poetical Works of Robert Burns, Cambridge edition, Boston and New York, Houghton Mifflin Company, 1897, page 223.


Researcher for this page: Pierre Mathé [Guest Editor]

5. The Winter it is past  [sung text not yet checked]

Language: Scottish (Scots) 
The Winter it is past, 
and the summer comes at last,
And the small birds, they sing on ev'ry tree;
Now ev'ry thing is glad,
while I am very sad,
Since my true love is parted from me.

The rose upon the brier,
by the waters running clear,
May have charms for the linnet or the bee;
Their little loves are blest,
and their little hearts at rest,
But my true love is parted from me.

Text Authorship:

  • by Robert Burns (1759 - 1796)

See other settings of this text.

Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

  • CHI Chinese (中文) (Dr Huaixing Wang) , copyright © 2024, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this page: Jean Branch
Total word count: 554
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This website began in 1995 as a personal project by Emily Ezust, who has been working on it full-time without a salary since 2008. Our research has never had any government or institutional funding, so if you found the information here useful, please consider making a donation. Your help is greatly appreciated!
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