Page 122. TONE-POETRY OF ROBERT BURNS
No. 134. In simmer, when the hay was mawn.
Tune : The country lass Orpheus Caledoius, 1733, No. 38..
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In simmer, when the hay was mawn
And corn wav'd green in ilka field,
While claver blooms white o'er the lea,
And roses blaw in ilka bield,
Blythe Bessie in the milking shiel,
Says—' I'll be wed, come o't what will';
Out spake a dame in wrinkled eild :—
' O' guid advisement comes nae ill.
' It's ye hae wooers mony ane,
And lassie, ye're but young, ye ken;
Then wait a wee, and cannie wale
A routhie butt, a routhie ben :
There's Johnie o' the Buskie-Glen,
Fu' is his barn, fu' is his byre :
Tak this frae me, my bonie hen :—
It's plenty beets the luver's fire.'
' For Johnie o' the Buskie-glen,
I dinna care a single flie;
He lo'es sae weel his craps and kye,
He has nae love to spare for me;
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Page 123. II. LOVE : GENERAL
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But blythe 's the blink o' Robie's e'e,
And weel I wat he lo'es me dear :
Ae blink o' him I wadna gie
For Buskie-Glen and a' his gear.'
O thoughtless lassie, life's a faught!
The canniest gate, the strife is sair ;
But ay fu'-han t is fechtin best;
A hungry care's an unco care.
But some will spend, and some will spare,
And wilfu' folk maun hae their will.
Syne as ye brew, my maiden fair,
Keep mind that ye maun drink the yill.'
' O, gear will buy me rigs o' land,
And gear will buy me sheep and kye!
But the tender heart o' leesome luve
The gowd and siller canna buy :
We may be poor, Robie and I;
Light is the burden luve lays on ;
Content and luve brings peace and joy—
What mair hae queens upon a throne?'
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Source: «traditionalmusic.co.uk»
Page 396. II. LOVE-SONGS : GENERAL
No. 134. In simmer, when the hay was mawn. Scots Musical Museum, 1792, No. 366, signed ' B,' entitled Country Lassie. The MS. is in the British Museum. In a letter to George Thomson, October 19,1794, Burns admits having written the song. Thomson printed it without authority in Select Melodies, 1822, ii. 24, to the tune of John, come kiss me now.
The Scottish tune, The country lass of the text, is in the Orpheus Caledonius, 1733, No. 38, with English verses written by Martin Parker, which Allan Ramsay copied, with variations, into the Tea-Table Miscellany. The English tune of the same title is that to which Sally in our Alley is now sung, en titled Cold and raw in Durfey's Pills, 1719, iv. 132. A third tune for the verses was The mother beguiled the daughter. Burns's song does not in the least resemble the English version, nor does the tune in the Orpheus, or in McGibbon's Scots Tunes, 1768, iv. 96, resemble any of the three English tunes named, except in the closing bars of Sally in our Alley.
Source: «traditionalmusic.co.uk»
