O, for ane and twenty Tam | O for ane and twenty, Tam! | An' O, for ane and twenty, Tam!

by Robert Burns (1759 - 1796)

An' O, for ane and twenty, Tam!

Language: Scottish (Scots)

Our translations: FRE

Chorus
An' O, for ane and twenty, Tam!
  An' hey, sweet ane and twenty Tam!
I'll learn my kin a rattlin sang,
  An I saw ane and twenty, Tam.

They snool me sair, and haud me down,
  And gar me look like bluntie, Tam;
But three short years will soon wheel roun',
  And then comes ane and twenty, Tam.
An' O, for ane and twenty Tam!...

A gleib o' lan', a claut o' gear,
  Was left me by my auntie, Tam;
At kith or kin I need na spier,
  An I saw ane and twenty, Tam.
An' O, for ane and twenty Tam!...

They'll hae me wed a wealthy coof,
  Tho' I mysel hae plenty, Tam;
But hearst thou, laddie, there 's my loof,
  I'm thine at ane and twenty, Tam!
An' O, for ane and twenty Tam!...

About the headline (FAQ)

Confirmed with The Complete Poetical Works of Robert Burns, Cambridge edition, Boston and New York, Houghton Mifflin Company, 1897, page 239.

Tune: The Moudiewort

Text Authorship:

by Robert Burns (1759 - 1796), "O, for ane and twenty Tam" [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 Benjamin Burrows (1891 - 1966), "One and twenty", 1927 [ voice and piano or string quartet ] [sung text not yet checked]
by (Franz) Joseph Haydn (1732 - 1809), "O for ane and twenty, Tam!", Hob. XXXIa no. 108, JHW. XXXII/2 no. 108 [sung text not yet checked]

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

CZE Czech (Čeština) (Josef Václav Sládek) , "Jen co mi přejde dvacet let"

Researcher for this page: Pierre Mathé [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 20
Word count: 137