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by Robert Burns (1759 - 1796)

Duncan Gray
 (Sung text for setting by L. Beethoven)
 See original
Language: Scottish (Scots) 
Our translations:  FRE
Duncan Gray cam here to woo,
  (Ha, ha, the wooing o't !)
On blythe Yule night when we were fu',
  (Ha, ha, the wooing o't !)
Maggie coost her head fu' high,
Look'd asklent and unco skiegh,
Gart poor Duncan stand abiegh;
  Ha, ha, the wooing o't !

 ... 

Time and Chance are but a tide,
  (Ha, ha, the wooing o't !)
Slighted love is sair to bide,
  (Ha, ha, the wooing o't !)
Shall I, like a fool, quoth he,
For a haughty hizzie die?
She may gae to - France for me!
  Ha, ha, the wooing o't !

How it comes let Doctors tell
  (Ha, ha, the wooing o't !)
Meg grew sick as he grew heal,
  (Ha, ha, the wooing o't !)
Something in her bosom wrings,
For a relief a sigh she brings;
And O ! her een, they spak sic things!
  Ha, ha, the wooing o't !

Duncan was a lad o' grace,
  (Ha, ha, the wooing o't !)
Maggie's was a piteous case,
  (Ha, ha, the wooing o't !)
Duncan could na be her death,
Swelling Pity smoor'd his Wrath;
Now they're crouse and canty baith,
  Ha, ha, the wooing o't !

Confirmed with The Complete Poetical Works of Robert Burns, Cambridge edition, Boston and New York, Houghton Mifflin Company, 1897, page 272.

Composition:

    Set to music by Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 - 1827), "Duncan Gray", WoO. 156 (12 Scottish Songs) no. 2, G. 227 no. 2, published 1818, stanzas 1,3-5 [ vocal trio, piano ]

Text Authorship:

  • by Robert Burns (1759 - 1796), "Duncan Grey"

See other settings of this text.

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

  • CZE Czech (Čeština) (Josef Václav Sládek) , "Dunkan"
  • FRE French (Français) (Pierre Mathé) , "Duncan Gray", copyright © 2014, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • GER German (Deutsch) [singable] (Georg Pertz) , "Duncan Gray"


Researcher for this page: Pierre Mathé [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 40
Word count: 238

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