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by Anonymous / Unidentified Author
Translation by Anonymous / Unidentified Author

Why does your brand sae drop wi' blude
Language: Scottish (Scots)  after the Scottish (Scots) 
"Why does your brand sae drop wi' blude,
     Edward, Edward?
Why does your brand sae drop wi' blude,
     And why sae sad gang ye, O?"
"O I hae kill'd my hawk sae gude,
     Mither, mither;
O I hae kill'd my hawk sae gude,
     And I had nae mair but he, O."

"Your hawk's blude was never sae red,
     Edward, Edward;
Your hawk's blude was never sae red,
     My dear son, I tell thee, O."
"O I hae kill'd my red-roan steed,
     Mither, mither;
O I hae kill'd my red-roan steed,
     That erst was sae fair and free, O."

"Your steed was auld, and ye hae got mair,
     Edward, Edward;
Your steed was auld, and ye hae got mair;
     Some other dule ye dree, O."
"O I hae kill'd my father dear,
     Mither, mither;
O I hae kill'd my father dear,
     Alas, and wae is me, O!"

"And whatten penance will ye dree for that,
     Edward, Edward?
Whatten penance will ye dree for that?
     My dear son, now tell me, O."
"I'll set my feet in yonder boat,
     Mither, mither;
I'll set my feet in yonder boat,
     And I'll fare over the sea, O."

"And what will ye do wi' your tow'rs and your ha',
     Edward, Edward?
And what will ye do wi' your tow'rs and your ha',
     That were sae fair to see, O?"
"I'll let them stand till they doun fa',
     Mither, mither;
I'll let them stand till they doun fa',
     For here never mair maun I be, O."

"And what will ye leave to your bairns and your wife,
     Edward, Edward?
And what will ye leave to your bairns and your wife,
     When ye gang owre the sea, O?"
"The warld's room: let them beg through life,
     Mither, mither;
The warld's room: let them beg through life;
     For them never mair will I see, O."

"And what will ye leave to your ain mither dear,
     Edward, Edward?
And what will ye leave to your ain mither dear,
     My dear son, now tell me, O?"
"The curse of hell frae me sall ye bear,
     Mither, mither;
The curse of hell frae me sall ye bear:
     Sic counsels ye gave to me, O!"

Available sung texts:   ← What is this?

•   I. Gurney •   F. Scott 

About the headline (FAQ)

View text with all available footnotes

Confirmed with The Oxford Book Of English Verse 1250 - 1900, Chosen & Edited by Arthur Quiller-Couch, Oxford, At the Clarendon Press, 1912, pages 425-427.

Note: This old Scottish Ballad has been first published in print by Thomas Percy in his Reliques of Ancient English Poetry in 1765.


Text Authorship:

  • by Anonymous / Unidentified Author, "Edward, Edward", first published 1765 [an adaptation] [author's text checked 2 times against a primary source]

Based on:

  • a text in Scottish (Scots) by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist , "Edward, Edward", subtitle: "A Scottish Ballad", first published 1765
    • Go to the text page.

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

  • by Ivor (Bertie) Gurney (1890 - 1937), "Edward, Edward", 1914-1915, published 1922 [ voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
  • by Francis George Scott (1880 - 1958), "Edward", 1943, published 1949 [ voice and piano ], from 35 Scottish Lyrics and other Poems, no. 8, Bayley & Ferguson for The Saltire Society, Glasgow, page 25 [sung text checked 1 time]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

  • Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Johann Gottfried Herder (1744 - 1803) , no title, first published 1773 ; composed by Arnold Krug, Josef Labor, Carl Loewe, Franz Peter Schubert, Karl Sigmund Freiherr von Seckendorff, Josef Antonín Štěpán.
      • Go to the text.
  • Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Johann Gottfried Herder (1744 - 1803) , "Edward", subtitle: "Schottisch" ; composed by Johannes Brahms, Catharinus Elling, Adolf Jensen.
      • Go to the text.
  • Also set in Russian (Русский), a translation by Aleksei Konstantinovich Tolstoy, Count (1817 - 1875) ; composed by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.
      • Go to the text.

Research team for this page: Richard Morris , Iain Sneddon [Guest Editor] , Peter Rastl [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website: 2003-11-08
Line count: 56
Word count: 381

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