]
Once I lov'd a bonie lass,
Ay, and I love her still;
And whilst that virtue warms my breast,
I'll love my handsome Nell.
Once I lov'd a bonie lass,
Ay, and I love her still;
And whilst that virtue warms my breast,
I'll love my handsome Nell.
Robert Burns - Poems and Songs
From youth Burns had been interested in
collecting the fragments he had heard sung or found printed, and he came
to regard the rescuing of this almost lost national inheritance in the
light of a vocation. About his song-making, two points are especially
noteworthy: first, that the greater number of his lyrics sprang from
actual emotional experiences; second, that almost all were composed to
old melodies. While in Edinburgh he undertook to supply material for
Johnson's "Musical Museum," and as few of the traditional songs could
appear in a respectable collection, Burns found it necessary to make
them over. Sometimes he kept a stanza or two; sometimes only a line or
chorus; sometimes merely the name of the air; the rest was his own. His
method, as he has told us himself, was to become familiar with the
traditional melody, to catch a suggestion from some fragment of the old
song, to fix upon an idea or situation for the new poem; then, humming
or whistling the tune as he went about his work, he wrought out the new
verses, going into the house to write them down when the inspiration
began to flag. In this process is to be found the explanation of much of
the peculiar quality of the songs of Burns. Scarcely any known author
has succeeded so brilliantly in combining his work with folk material,
or in carrying on with such continuity of spirit the tradition of
popular song. For George Thomson's collection of Scottish airs he
performed a function similar to that which he had had in the "Museum";
and his poetical activity during the last eight or nine years of his
life was chiefly devoted to these two publications. In spite of the fact
that he was constantly in severe financial straits, he refused to accept
any recompense for this work, preferring to regard it as a patriotic
service. And it was, indeed, a patriotic service of no small magnitude.
By birth and temperament he was singularly fitted for the task, and this
fitness is proved by the unique extent to which his productions were
accepted by his countrymen, and have passed into the life and feeling of
his race.
1771 - 1779
Song--Handsome Nell^1
Tune--"I am a man unmarried. "
[Footnote 1: The first of my performances. --R. B.
]
Once I lov'd a bonie lass,
Ay, and I love her still;
And whilst that virtue warms my breast,
I'll love my handsome Nell.
As bonie lasses I hae seen,
And mony full as braw;
But, for a modest gracefu' mein,
The like I never saw.
A bonie lass, I will confess,
Is pleasant to the e'e;
But, without some better qualities,
She's no a lass for me.
But Nelly's looks are blythe and sweet,
And what is best of a',
Her reputation is complete,
And fair without a flaw.
She dresses aye sae clean and neat,
Both decent and genteel;
And then there's something in her gait
Gars ony dress look weel.
A gaudy dress and gentle air
May slightly touch the heart;
But it's innocence and modesty
That polishes the dart.
'Tis this in Nelly pleases me,
'Tis this enchants my soul;
For absolutely in my breast
She reigns without control.
Song--O Tibbie, I Hae Seen The Day
Tune--"Invercauld's Reel, or Strathspey. "
Choir. --O Tibbie, I hae seen the day,
Ye wadna been sae shy;
For laik o' gear ye lightly me,
But, trowth, I care na by.
Yestreen I met you on the moor,
Ye spak na, but gaed by like stour;
Ye geck at me because I'm poor,
But fient a hair care I.
O Tibbie, I hae seen the day, &c.
When coming hame on Sunday last,
Upon the road as I cam past,
Ye snufft and ga'e your head a cast--
But trowth I care't na by.
O Tibbie, I hae seen the day, &c.
I doubt na, lass, but ye may think,
Because ye hae the name o' clink,
That ye can please me at a wink,
Whene'er ye like to try.
O Tibbie, I hae seen the day, &c.
collecting the fragments he had heard sung or found printed, and he came
to regard the rescuing of this almost lost national inheritance in the
light of a vocation. About his song-making, two points are especially
noteworthy: first, that the greater number of his lyrics sprang from
actual emotional experiences; second, that almost all were composed to
old melodies. While in Edinburgh he undertook to supply material for
Johnson's "Musical Museum," and as few of the traditional songs could
appear in a respectable collection, Burns found it necessary to make
them over. Sometimes he kept a stanza or two; sometimes only a line or
chorus; sometimes merely the name of the air; the rest was his own. His
method, as he has told us himself, was to become familiar with the
traditional melody, to catch a suggestion from some fragment of the old
song, to fix upon an idea or situation for the new poem; then, humming
or whistling the tune as he went about his work, he wrought out the new
verses, going into the house to write them down when the inspiration
began to flag. In this process is to be found the explanation of much of
the peculiar quality of the songs of Burns. Scarcely any known author
has succeeded so brilliantly in combining his work with folk material,
or in carrying on with such continuity of spirit the tradition of
popular song. For George Thomson's collection of Scottish airs he
performed a function similar to that which he had had in the "Museum";
and his poetical activity during the last eight or nine years of his
life was chiefly devoted to these two publications. In spite of the fact
that he was constantly in severe financial straits, he refused to accept
any recompense for this work, preferring to regard it as a patriotic
service. And it was, indeed, a patriotic service of no small magnitude.
By birth and temperament he was singularly fitted for the task, and this
fitness is proved by the unique extent to which his productions were
accepted by his countrymen, and have passed into the life and feeling of
his race.
1771 - 1779
Song--Handsome Nell^1
Tune--"I am a man unmarried. "
[Footnote 1: The first of my performances. --R. B.
]
Once I lov'd a bonie lass,
Ay, and I love her still;
And whilst that virtue warms my breast,
I'll love my handsome Nell.
As bonie lasses I hae seen,
And mony full as braw;
But, for a modest gracefu' mein,
The like I never saw.
A bonie lass, I will confess,
Is pleasant to the e'e;
But, without some better qualities,
She's no a lass for me.
But Nelly's looks are blythe and sweet,
And what is best of a',
Her reputation is complete,
And fair without a flaw.
She dresses aye sae clean and neat,
Both decent and genteel;
And then there's something in her gait
Gars ony dress look weel.
A gaudy dress and gentle air
May slightly touch the heart;
But it's innocence and modesty
That polishes the dart.
'Tis this in Nelly pleases me,
'Tis this enchants my soul;
For absolutely in my breast
She reigns without control.
Song--O Tibbie, I Hae Seen The Day
Tune--"Invercauld's Reel, or Strathspey. "
Choir. --O Tibbie, I hae seen the day,
Ye wadna been sae shy;
For laik o' gear ye lightly me,
But, trowth, I care na by.
Yestreen I met you on the moor,
Ye spak na, but gaed by like stour;
Ye geck at me because I'm poor,
But fient a hair care I.
O Tibbie, I hae seen the day, &c.
When coming hame on Sunday last,
Upon the road as I cam past,
Ye snufft and ga'e your head a cast--
But trowth I care't na by.
O Tibbie, I hae seen the day, &c.
I doubt na, lass, but ye may think,
Because ye hae the name o' clink,
That ye can please me at a wink,
Whene'er ye like to try.
O Tibbie, I hae seen the day, &c.
