Lassie Wi’ the Lint White Locks

More Burns today. This one from 1794 is Robbie Burns doing his best to woo a(nother) fair maid. If you need some help translating Burns-isms, you can visit RobertBurns.org The tune is based on the Strathspey “The Rothiemurchus Rant.”

From the BBC’s Transatlantic Sessions, this performance is by Karen Mattheson.

Lass Wi’ the Lint White Locks

Chorus:
Lassie wi’the lint-white locks,
Bonie lassie, artless lassie,
Wilt thou wi’ me tent the flocks,
Wilt thou be my Dearie, O?

Now Nature cleeds the flowery lea,
And a’ is young and sweet like thee,
O wilt thou share its joys wi’ me,
And say thou’lt be my Dearie, O.
Chorus

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Ae Fond Kiss (and Then We Sever)

Once again, from the pen of the great Robert Burns (1791), we get a song for the ages. And in this video, the Voice Squad render a performance or the ages.

Ae Fond Kiss

Ae fond kiss, and then we sever;
Ae fareweel, alas, for ever!
Deep in heart-wrung tears I’ll pledge thee,
Warring sighs and groans I’ll wage thee!

Who shall say that Fortune grieves him
While the star of hope she leaves him?
Me, nae cheerfu’ twinkle lights me,
Dark despair around benights me.

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Ye Jacobites by Name

This song is one of only a few found in the tradition that criticize the Jacobite revolution. Robert Burns found a similar song while collecting in Scotland, but he chose to write his own with a lean more toward a humanist anti-war viewpoint, rather that of the Whig party. This performance is from the great Eddi Reader.

Ye Jacobites by Name

Chorus

Ye Jacobites by name, lend an ear, lend an ear
Ye Jacobites by name, lend an ear
Ye Jacobites by name
Your faults I will proclaim
Your doctrines I maun blame, you will hear, you will hear
Your doctrines I maun blame, you will hear

What is right, what is wrong, by the law, by the law
What is right, and what is wrong, by the law
What is right, what is wrong
The weak arm and the strong
The short sword and the long, for to draw, for to draw
The short sword and the long, for to draw

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