Young Jockey was the blythest lad,
In a' our town or here awa' :
Fu' blythe he whistled at the gaud,
Fu' lightly danc'd he in the ha'.

He roos'd my een sae bonny blue,
He roos'd my waist sae gently sma';
An' [ay]1 my heart came to my mou'
When ne'er a body heard or saw.
 
My Jockey toils upon the plain,
Thro' wind and weet, thro' frost and snaw;
And o'er the lea I look fu' fain,
When Jockey's owsen hameward ca'.

["And always the night comes round again,
When in his arms he takes me all,
And always he vows he will be my own"]2
As lang's he has a breath to draw.

View original text (without footnotes)

Confirmed with The Complete Poetical Works of Robert Burns, Cambridge edition, Boston and New York, Houghton Mifflin Company, 1897, page 228.

¹ Haydn: "aft"
² Haydn :

When gloamin brings him hame again,
A blyther sight I never saw,
For aye he vows he'll be my ain

Glossary

Gaud = plough
Roos'd = praised, commended
Een = eyes
Fu'fain = joyfully
Owsen = oxen
Hameward ca' = drive
Gloaming = twilight

Text Authorship:

• by Robert Burns (1759 - 1796), "Young Jockey was the blythest lad" [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 (Franz) Joseph Haydn (1732 - 1809), "Young Jockey was the blythest lad", Hob. XXXIa no. 64bis, JHW. XXXII/3 no. 208 [sung text checked 1 time]

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

• CZE Czech (Čeština) (Josef Václav Sládek) , "Můj Jockey"
• FRE French (Français) (Pierre Mathé) , "Le jeune Jockey était le plus joyeux des garçons", copyright © 2014, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Research team for this page: Ferdinando Albeggiani , Pierre Mathé [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website: 2009-08-27
Line count: 16
Word count: 117