Ye banks and braes o' bonnie Doon,
  How can ye bloom sae fresh and fair;
How can ye [chant]1, ye little birds,
  And I sae weary, fu' o' care!
Thou'lt break my heart, thou warbling bird,
  That [wantons]2 thro' the [flowering]3 thorn: 
Thou minds me o' departed joys,
  Departed -- never to return!

[Aft]4 hae I rov'd by bonnie Doon,
  To see the rose and woodbine twine;
And ilka bird sang o' its [luve]5,
  And fondly sae did I o' mine.
Wi' lightsome heart I pu'd a rose,
  Fu' sweet upon its thorny tree;
[And my fause luver]6 [stole the]7 rose,
  [But, ah! he]8 left the thorn wi' me.

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Confirmed with The Complete Works of Robert Burns: Containing His Poems, Songs and Correspondence. With a New Life of the Poet, and Notices, Critical and Biographical, by Allan Cunningham. Elegantly illustrated, Boston: Phillips, Sampson, and Company, 1859, page 257.

¹ Grainger, Quilter: "chaunt"
² Grainger: "warbles"
³ Quilter: "flower"; Grainger: "flow'ring"
⁴ Quilter: "Oft"
⁵ Quilter: "love"
⁶ Grainger, Quilter: "But my fause lover"
⁷ Grainger: "staw my"
⁸ Quilter: "And oh, he"

Text Authorship:

• by Robert Burns (1759 - 1796), "The Banks o' Doon", subtitle: "[Second version]" [author's text checked 1 time 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 Alexandre Georges (1850 - 1938), "Chanson écossaise", published 1910 [ voice and piano ], Moscow : Jurgenson [sung text not yet checked]
• by Percy Aldridge Grainger (1882 - 1961), "Ye banks and braes o' bonnie Doon", 1901-32, published 1937 [ chorus ] [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Roger Quilter (1877 - 1953), "Ye banks and braes", published 1947 [ voice and piano ], from The Arnold Book of Old Songs, no. 6, London, Boosey & Hawkes [sung text checked 1 time]
• by John Theodore Livingston Raynor (1909 - 1970), "Ye Banks And Braes", op. 468 (1956) [sung text not yet checked]

Set in a modified version by Amy Marcy Cheney Beach, Maurice Ravel.

• Go to the text. [ view differences ] CZE FRE GER IRI
  

Set in a modified version by David Arditti, Charles Hubert Hastings Parry, Sir.

• Go to the text. [ view differences ] GER
  

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

• Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Wilhelm Christoph Leonhard Gerhard (1780 - 1858) , "Am Ufer des Doon", page 191, poem No. 108, first published 1840 ; composed by Robert Franz, Moritz Hauptmann, Hubert Ferdinand Kufferath.
  • Go to the text.
    
• Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Hans Gál (1890 - 1987) , "Du liebe Flur im Seengrund", copyright ©, (re)printed on this website with kind permission ; composed by Hans Gál.
  • Go to the text.
    
• Also set in Scottish (Scots), [adaptation] ; composed by Amy Marcy Cheney Beach, Maurice Ravel.
  • Go to the text.
    
• Also set in Scottish (Scots), [adaptation] ; composed by Hans Gál.
  • Go to the text.
    

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

• CZE Czech (Čeština) (Josef Václav Sládek) , "Břehy Doonu"
• FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , copyright © 2017, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• IRI Irish (Gaelic) [singable] (Gabriel Rosenstock) , copyright © 2014, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this page: John Versmoren

This text was added to the website: 2004-07-11
Line count: 16
Word count: 108

Ihr Hügel dort am schönen Doon,
Wie könnt ihr nur so üppig blühn?
Wie könnt ihr singen, [Vögelein]1,
Da Sorgen mir im Busen glühn?
Vernehm' ich euren muntern Sang,
Durchbebt es meine wunde Brust;
Und flattert ihr durch grünes Laub,
Denk' ich vergangner süßer Lust.

An deinem Ufer streift' ich, Doon;
Waldreb' und Rose freuten mich,
Von Liebe sang das Vögelein,
Von meiner Liebe sang auch ich.
Und eine Rose, frisch erblüht
In [Lenzes Milde]2, pflückt' ich hier;
Mein Liebster stahl das Röslein roth,
Und ach! die Dornen ließ er mir.