How [lang]1 and dreary is the night
 When I am frae my Dearie;
I restless lie frae e'en [to]2 morn
 Though I were ne'er sae weary.

Chorus. -- For oh, her lanely nights are lang!
 And oh, her dreams are eerie;
And oh, her window'd heart is sair,
 That's absent frae her Dearie!

When I think on the [lightsome]3 days
 I spent wi' [thee]4, my Dearie;
And now what [seas]5 between us [roar]6,
 How can I be but eerie?
       For oh, &c.

How slow ye move, ye heavy hours;
 [The joyless day how dreary:]7
It was na sae ye glinted by,
 When I was wi' my Dearie!
       For oh, &c.

A. Beach sets stanzas 1, 3-4
M. White sets stanzas 3, 4

About the headline (FAQ)

View original text (without footnotes)

Confirmed with Burns, Robert. Poems and Songs, Vol. VI. The Harvard Classics. New York: P.F. Collier & Son, 1909–14;

Note: the Burns text appears in the White score as if it is a translation of this German text (or vice versa), but although they are both set to the same music, they are unrelated textually.

Glossary:
Eerie = affected with fear or dread
Window'd = widowed
Glinted = passed quickly like a transient gleam

¹ Beach: "long"
² Beach: "tae"
³ White: "happy"
⁴ White: "you"
⁵ Beach, White: "lands"
⁶ Beach, White: "lie"
⁷ Beach, White: "As ye were wae and weary"

Text Authorship:

• by Robert Burns (1759 - 1796), "Song -- How lang and dreary is the night" [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 Amy Marcy Cheney Beach (1867 - 1944), "Dearie", op. 43 (Five Burns Songs) no. 1, published c1899, stanzas 1,3-4 [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Benjamin Burrows (1891 - 1966), "How long and dreary", 1927, published 1929 [ voice and piano or string quartet ] [sung text not yet checked]
• by (Franz) Joseph Haydn (1732 - 1809), "Cauld kail in Aberdeen", Hob. XXXIa:55bis, JHW. XXXII/3 no. 226 [ voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Maude Valérie White (1855 - 1937), "How lang and dreary is the night", published 1885, stanzas 3,4 [ voice and piano ], from Album of German Songs (later published as Sixteen German Songs), no. 15, London: Stanley Lucas, Weber & Col.; also reprinted by Recital Publications (Texas) in 1995  [sung text checked 1 time]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

• Also set in French (Français), a translation by Henri-François-Louis-Auguste Potez (1863 - c1946) ; composed by André Gédalge.
  • Go to the text.
    
• Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist ; composed by Ignaz Brüll.
  • Go to the text.
    

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

• CZE Czech (Čeština) (Josef Václav Sládek) , "Jak dlouhá, smutná je ta noc"
• FRE French (Français) (Pierre Mathé) , "Comme la nuit est longue et maussade", copyright © 2014, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 18
Word count: 118

Jak dlouhá, smutná je ta noc,—
   mé srdečko tu není,
já od večera neusnu
   až v pozdní kuropění.

Ó dlouhá je a smutná noc
   a nepokojné snění
a srdce bolí, vzdálené
   od svého potěšení.

Co den jsme byli pospolu,
   jak všecko osud změní!
Teď moře širé, bouřlivé
   se mezi námi pění.

Jak těžce jdou ty hodiny,
   jak šeré světlo denní!
Tak nebylo, když měla jsem
   zde svoje potěšení.

Jak dlouhá, smutná je ta noc, —
   mé srdečko tu není,
já od večera neusnu
   až v pozdní kuropění.