The Banks of Doon | The Banks o' Doon | Ye flowery banks o' bonnie Doon

by Robert Burns (1759 - 1796)

Ye flowery banks o' bonnie Doon

Language: Scottish (Scots)

Ye flowery banks o' bonnie Doon, 
  How can ye bloom sae fair? 
How can ye chant, ye little birds, 
  And I sae fu' o care! 

Thou'll break my heart, thou bonnie bird, 
  That sings upon the bough; 
Thou minds me o' the happy days 
  When mv fause [love]² was true. 

Thou'll break my heart, thou bonnie bird, 
  That sings beside thy mate; 
For sae I sat, and sae I sang, 
  And wist na o' my fate. 

Aft hae I rov'd by bonnie Doon 
  To see the woodbine twine, 
And ilka bird sang o' its love; 
  And sae did I o' mine. 

Wi' lightsome heart I pu'd a rose, 
  Frae aff its thorny tree; 
And my fause luver staw the rose, 
  But 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 Arditi: "blume"
² Arditi: "luve"

Text Authorship:

by Robert Burns (1759 - 1796), "The Banks of Doon", subtitle: "[First 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 David Arditti (b. 1964), "The Banks o' Doon", op. 1 no. 3, first performed 1994, from Burns Songs, no. 3 [sung text checked 1 time]
by Charles Hubert Hastings Parry, Sir (1848 - 1918), "Ye flowering banks of bonny Doon" [ voice and piano ] [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 Percy Aldridge Grainger, Roger Quilter.

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

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist ; composed by Alexander Winterberger.

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 20
Word count: 126