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by Robert Burns (1759 - 1796)

O whistle, and I'll come to ye, my lad
Language: Scottish (Scots) 
O whistle, and I'll come to ye, my lad,
O whistle, and I'll come to ye, my lad;
Tho' father, and mother, and a' should gae mad,
  Thy Jeanie will venture wi' ye, my lad.

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. -
     O whistle, and I'll come to ye, my lad...

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.
     O whistle, and I'll come to ye, my lad...

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. -
     O whistle, and I'll come to ye, my lad...

Available sung texts:   ← What is this?

•   H. Hopekirk 

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Text Authorship:

  • by Robert Burns (1759 - 1796) [author's text not yet checked 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 John Linton Gardner (1917 - 2011), "O whistle an'I'll come to you", op. 213 no. 5, published 1993 [ mixed chorus and orchestra ], from A Burns Sequence, no. 5, London : Oxford University Press [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Helen Hopekirk (1856 - 1945), "O, Whistle and I'll Come to You, My Lad" [ voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
  • by Mervyn, Lord Horder, the Second Baron of Ashford (1910 - 1998), "O whistle and I'll come to you" [ voice and piano ], from Five Burns Songs, no. 2 [sung text not yet checked]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

  • Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Ad. Lann ; composed by Karl Heinrich Carsten Reinecke.
      • Go to the text. [Note: the text is not in the database yet.]

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

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 22
Word count: 199

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