The Canongate Burns
Page 49
The Lazy Mist
First printed in the S.M.M., Vol. 3, 2nd February, 1790.
The lazy mist hangs from the brow of the hill,
Concealing the course of the dark winding rill;
How languid the scenes, late so sprightly, appear,
As Autumn to Winter resigns the pale year.
5 The forests are leafless, the meadows are brown,
And all the gay foppery of Summer is flown:
Apart let me wander, apart let me muse,
How quick Time is flying, how keen Fate pursues.
How long I have liv’d — but how much liv’d in vain;
10 How little of life’s scanty span may remain:
What aspects, old Time, in his progress has worn;
What ties, cruel Fate, in my bosom has torn.
How foolish, or worse, till our summit is gain’d!
And downward, how weaken’d, how darken’d, how pain’d!
15 Life is not worth having with all it can give,
For something beyond it poor man sure must live.
This is an original work of Burns. A copy was sent to Dr Blacklock from Mauchline on 15th November 1788. The final couplet carries the same sentiment as ‘And a’ the comfort we’re to get,/ Is that ayont the grave, man’ from The Tree of Liberty (ll. 71–2), without that later poem’s sense of revolutionary, redemptive freedom achievable in this life.
The Captain’s Lady
Tune: Mount Your Baggage
First printed in the S.M.M., Vol. 3, 2nd February, 1790.
When the drums do beat,
And the cannons rattle,
Thou shalt sit in state,
And see thy love in battle.
Chorus
5 O mount and go,
Mount and make you ready,
O mount and go,
And be the Captain’s Lady.
When the vanquish’d foe
10 Sues for peace and quiet,
To the shades we’ll go,
And in love enjoy it.
O, mount and go, &c.
Henley and Henderson suggest that a broadside called The Liggar Lady is probably the basis of this song (Vol. 3, p. 344). Kinsley also accepts this (Vol. III, p. 1332). The finished work differs significantly from the traditional one.
Of a’ the Airts
Tune: Miss Admiral Gordon’s Strathspey
First printed in the S.M.M., Vol. 3, 2nd February, 1790.
Of a’ the airts the wind can blaw, directions, blow
I dearly like the West,
For there the bonie Lassie lives,
The Lassie I lo’e best: love
5 There ’s wild woods grow, and rivers row, roll
And mony a hill between; many
But day and night my fancy’s flight
Is ever wi’ my Jean. —
I see her in the dewy flowers,
10 I see her sweet and fair;
I hear her in the tunefu’ birds,
I hear her charm the air:
There’s not a bonie flower, that springs
By fountain, shaw, or green; woodland
15 There’s not a bony bird that sings
But minds me o’ my Jean. —
In the Interleaved S.M.M. Burns writes ‘This song … I composed out of compliment to Mrs Burns’. The evocative strathspey was composed by William Marshall who worked for the Duke of Gordon. A music-seller in Edinburgh, John Hamilton, added two stanzas to this song, but they were never fully incorporated by Burnsians due to their mediocrity. Hamilton is probably responsible for some other fake lyrics attributed to Burns during the nineteenth century (See Chambers–Wallace, 1896, p. 270, footnote 1).
Carl and the King Come
First printed in the S.M.M., Vol. 3, 2nd February, 1790.
An somebodie were come again,
Then somebodie maun cross the main, must
And every man shall hae his ain, have, own
Carl an the King come. old man
Chorus
5 Carl an the King come,
Carl an the King come;
Thou shalt dance and I will sing,
Carl an the King come.
I trow we swapped for the warse: trust, worse
10 We gae the boot and better horse; gave
An that we’ll tell them at the cross,
Carl an the King come.
Coggie an the King come, drinking jug
Coggie an the King come,
15 I’ll be fou an thou’se be toom, drunk, empty
Coggie an the King come.
‘Carl’, meaning old man, is a reference to Prince Charles Edward Stuart. A song of this title existed in Cromwellian times, but several variants appear as Jacobite songs in the eighteenth century. It is partly traditional, partly Burns.
Whistle o’er the Lave o’t
Tune: Whistle o’er the Lave o’t
First printed in the S.M.M., Vol. 3, 2nd February, 1790.
First when Maggy was my care,
Heaven, I thought, was in her air;
Now we’re married — spier nae mair — inquire no more
But whistle o’er the lave o’t. — rest
5 Meg was meek, and Meg was mild,
Sweet and harmless as a child —
Wiser men than me’s beguiled;
Whistle o’er the lave o’t. — rest
How we live, my Meg and me,
10 How we love and how we gree; agree
I care na by how few may see, not
Whistle o’er the lave o’t. —
Wha I wish were maggots’ meat, who
Dish’d up in her winding-sheet;
15 I could write — but Meg wad see’t — would
Whistle o’er the lave o’t. —
These are Burns’s new lyrics adapted considerably from a bawdy song in the David Herd collection (1769). On the evidence of several of Burns’s songs, feminine submission was not, to say the least, implicit in the eighteenth century matrimonial state.
O, Were I on Parnassus Hill
Tune: My Love is Lost to Me
First printed in the S.M.M., Vol. 3, 2nd February, 1790.
O were I on Parnassus hill;
Or had o’ Helicon my fill;
That I might catch poetic skill,
To sing how dear I love thee.
5 But Nith maun be my Muses’ well, must
My Muse maun be thy bonie sell, must, self
On Corsincon I’ll glowr and spell, glower
And write how dear I love thee.
Then come, sweet Muse, inspire my lay!
10 For a’ the lee-lang simmer’s day, live-long summer
I couldna sing, I couldna say, could not,
How much, how dear, I love thee.
I see thee dancing o’er the green,
Thy waist sae jimp, thy limbs sae clean, so neat, so shapely
15 Thy tempting lips, thy roguish een — eyes
By Heaven and Earth I love thee!
By night, by day, a-field, at hame, in a field
The thoughts o’ thee my breast inflame;
And ay I muse and sing thy name,
20 I only live to love thee.
Tho’ I were doom’d to wander on,
Beyond the sea, beyond the sun,
Till my last, weary sand was run;
Till then — and then I love thee.
This song, as The Vision, has its inspiring domestic Muse in Jean Armour. It is different, however, from that long poem and uncharacteristic of Burns, in that his native landscape is felt as inadequate compared to that of the classical world. Helicon, the Greek river of inspirational water, neatly plays off against Corsicon, a hill viewable from Ellisland.
There’s a Youth in this City
Tune: Neil Gow’s Lament for his Brother
First printed in the S.M.M., Vol. 3, 2nd February, 1790.
There’s a youth in this city, it were a great pity
That he from our lasses should wander aw
a’;
For he ’s bony and braw, weel-favor’d witha’, handsome, well-
An’ his hair has a natural buckle an’ a’. — curl
5 His coat is the hue o’ his bonnet sae blue; so
His fecket is white as the new-driven snaw; woollen waistcoat
His hose they are blae, and his shoon like the slae; blue, shoes, sloe
And his clear siller buckles they dazzle us a’. silver
For beauty and fortune the laddie’s been courtin;
10 Weel-featur’d, weel-tocher’d, weel-mounted, an’ braw; (see notes)
But chiefly the siller, that gars him gang till her; money, makes, go
The Pennie ’s the jewel that beautifies a’. —
There ’s Meg wi’ the mailen that fain wad a haen him; farm, gladly would
And Susie whase daddie was laird of the Ha’, whose, Hall
15 There ’s lang-tocher’d Nancy maist fetters his fancy — long-, most
But th’ laddie’s dear sel he loes dearest of a’. — self, loves
Burns indicates in the Interleaved S.M.M. that the first ‘half- stanza’ is traditional and the remainder his own. He also states that the tune is by the famous fiddler Neil Gow. The explanation of the Scots hyperbole in l. 10 is too lengthy to be set in the right margin and is translated as follows: our hero is well endowed, rides a good horse, has money and is handsome, but, for all his show, as the final line suggests, he loves himself a little too much.
My Heart’s in the Highlands
Tune: Failte na miosg
First printed in the S.M.M., Vol. 3, 2nd February, 1790.
Farewell to the Highlands, farewell to the North;
The birthplace of Valour, the country of Worth:
Wherever I wander, wherever I rove,
The hills of the Highlands for ever I love. —
Chorus
5 My heart’s in the Highlands, my heart is not here;
My heart’s in the Highlands a chasing the deer;
Chasing the wild deer, and following the roe;
My heart’s in the Highlands, wherever I go. —
Farewell to the mountains high cover’d with snow;
10 Farewell to the Straths and green valleys below:
Farewell to the forests and wild-hanging woods;
Farewell to the torrents and loud-pouring floods. —
My heart’s in the Highlands, &c.
The chorus of this song is taken from a broadside called The Strong Walls of Derry which narrates the forlorn love of a Highlander emigrating to Ireland to find his true love has married another. The remainder of the lyric is by Burns.
John Anderson My Jo
First printed in the S.M.M., Vol. 3, 2nd February, 1790.
John Anderson my jo, John, darling/love
When we were first acquent; acquainted
Your locks were like the raven,
Your bonie brow was brent; unwrinkled
5 But now your brow is beld, John, bald
Your locks are like the snaw; snow/white
But blessings on your frosty pow, white head
John Anderson my Jo. darling
John Anderson my jo, John,
10 We clamb the hill thegither; climbed, together
And mony a cantie day, John, happy
We’ve had wi’ ane anither: one another
Now we maun totter down, John, shall
And hand in hand we’ll go;
15 And sleep thegither at the foot, together
John Anderson my Jo.
This is surely Burns’s best example of cleaning up an old bawdy song to create a soothing lyric about love in old age, sung in the feminine voice. A version of the original bawdy work is in the poet’s M.M.C. collection.
Awa’, Whigs, Awa’
First printed in the S.M.M., Vol. 3, 2nd February, 1790.
Our thrissles flourish’d fresh and fair, thistles
And bonie bloom’d our roses;
But Whigs cam like a frost in June, came
An’ wither’d a’ our posies.
Chorus
5 Awa’ Whigs awa’,
Awa’ Whigs awa’,
Ye’re but a pack o’ traitor louns, rogues
Ye’ll do nae guid at a’. no good
Our ancient crown’s fa’n in the dust; fallen
10 Deil blin’ them wi’ the stoure o’t, devil, dust
An’ write their names in his black beuk book
Wha gae the Whigs the power o’t! who gave
Awa’ Whigs awa’, &c.
Our sad decay in church and state
Surpasses my descriving:. describing
15 The Whigs cam o’er us for a curse, came
And we hae done wi’ thriving. have
Awa’ Whigs awa’, &c.
Grim Vengeance lang has taen a nap, long, taken
But we may see him waukin: awaken
Gude help the day when Royal heads God
20 Are hunted like a maukin. hare
Awa’, Whigs, awa’, &c.
This is adapted from a song in Herd’s collection (See Kinsley, no. 303, Vol. III, p. 1336) where Burns lifts the chorus. Wallace suggests that only verses two and four are from Burns, but three sounds like him also. It is a stereotypical Jacobite protest song which, as Donaldson remarks (p. 80), ‘could have been written at almost any point in the eighteenth century’.
Ca’ the Yowes to the Knowes
[First version]
First printed in the S.M.M., Vol. 3, 2nd February, 1790.
As I gaed down the water-side went
There I met my Shepherd-lad,
He row’d me sweetly in his plaid, wrapped
And he ca’d me his Dearie. — called
Chorus
5 Ca’ the yowes to the knowes, call, ewes, hillocks
Ca’ them whare the heather grows, call, where
Ca’ them where the burnie rowes, stream runs/flows
My bonie Dearie. —
Will ye gang down the water-side go
10 And see the waves sae sweetly glide so
Beneath the hazels spreading wide,
The moon it shines fu’ clearly. —
Ca’ the yowes, &c.
I was bred up at nae sic school, no such
My Shepherd-lad, to play the fool;
15 An’ a’ the day to sit in dool, sorrow
An’ naebody to see me. — nobody
Ca’ the yowes, &c.
Ye sall get gowns and ribbons meet, shall
Cauf-leather shoon upon your feet, shoes
And in my arms ye’se lie and sleep,
20 An’ ye sall be my Dearie. — shall
Ca’ the yowes, &c.
If ye’ll but stand to what ye’ve said,
I’se gang wi’ you, my Shepherd-lad, go
And ye may row me in your plaid, wrap
And I sall be your Dearie.
Ca’ the yowes, &c.
25 While waters wimple to the sea; meander
While Day blinks in the lift sae hie; sky so high
Till clay-cauld Death sall blin’ my e’e, -cold, shall, eye
Ye sall be my Dearie. — shall
Ca’ the yowes, &c.
This is the poet’s first version of this duet, adapted from a traditional work. He wrote to Thomson retrospectively in September 1794: ‘When I gave it to Johnson, I added some stanzas to the song and mended others, but still it will not do for you’ (Letter 636). Stanzas four and five are old. Stanza three is missing in the Mackay version (p. 299). The later version (printed in Posthumous Works), interweaves the local, Lincluden scenery.
Kissin My Kate
Tune: Lord Breadalbine’s March
First printed in the S.M.M., Vol. 3, 2nd February, 1790.
O merry hae I been teethin a heckle, have, flax-dresser’s comb
An’ merry hae I been shapin a spoon: have
O merry hae I been cloutin a kettle, have, mending
An’ kissin my Ka
tie when a’ was done.
5 O, a’ the lang day I ca’ at my hammer, long, knock
An’ a’ the lang day I whistle an’ sing; long
O, a’ the lang night I cuddle my kimmer, long, mistress
An’ a’ the lang night as happy’s a king. long
Bitter in dool I lickit my winnins sorrow, made the best
10 O’ marrying Bess, to gie her a slave: give
Blest be the hour she cool’d in her linens, shroud
And blythe be the bird that sings on her grave!
Come to my arms, my Katie, my Katie,
An’ come to my arms, and kiss me again!
15 Drucken or sober, here’s to thee, Katie! drunken
And blest be the day I did it again.
This is another adaption by Burns from an old song with the man ecstatically re-energised by replacing the loathed, deceased Bess with the beloved Katy. The phrase ‘teethin a heckle’ refers to putting teeth into a flax-dresser’s comb.
Mrs Ferguson of Craigdarroch’s
Lamentation for the Death of her Son,