NOTICE

All files on this site have been moved to http://www.wikilivres.ca. All future contributions to Wikilivres should be made there.

This site will be closed on June 6th, 2012.

Songs of Robert Burns/When Januar' wind was blawin cauld

Free texts and images.

Jump to: navigation, search
Songs of Robert Burns ~ When Januar' wind was blawin cauld
James C. Dick
No. 333. From "The Songs by Robert Burns". A Study in Tone-Poetry. Published by Henry Frowde. London, Edinburgh, Glasgow, and New York 1903. Source «traditionalmusic»



Page 315. IX. MISCELLANEOUS


No. 333. When Januar' wind was blawin cauld.

Tune: The lass that made the bed to me, Scots Musical Mus. 1796, No. 448.


Songs-Robert-Burns-333.png


* * *



When Januar' wind was blawin cauld,
    As to the north I took my way,
The mirksome night did me enfauld,
    I knew na where to lodge till day.

By my gude luck a maid I met
    Just in the middle o' my care;
And kindly she did me invite
    To walk into a chamber fair.

I bow'd fu' low unto this maid,
    And thank'd her for her courtesie;
I bow'd fu' low unto this maid,
    An' bade her mak a bed to me.



Page 316. TONE-POETRY OF ROBERT BURNS


* * *



She made the bed baith large and wide,
    Wi' twa white hands she spread it doun;
She put the cup to her rosy lips,
    And drank-"Young man, now sleep ye soun'."

She snatch'd the candle in her hand,
    And frae my chamber went wi' speed;
But I call'd her quickly back again,
    To lay some mair below my head:

A cod she laid below my head,
    And served me with due respect,
And, to salute her wi' a kiss,
    I put my arms about her neck.

"Haud aff your hands, young man!" she said,
    "And dinna sae uncivil be;
Gif ye hae ony luve for me,
    O wrang na my virginitie."

Her hair was like the links o' gowd,
    Her teeth were like the ivorie,
Her cheeks like lilies dipt in wine,
    The lass that made the bed to me:

Her bosom was the driven snaw,
    Twa drifted heaps sae fair to see;
Her limbs the polish'd marble stane,
    The lass that made the bed to me.

I kiss'd her o'er and o'er again,
    And aye she wist na what to say:
I laid her 'tween me and the wa';
    The lassie thocht na lang till day.
 
Upon the morrow when we raise,
    I thank'd her for her courtesie;
But aye she blush'd and aye she sigh'd,
    And said, "Alas, ye've ruin'd me."

I claps'd her waist, and kiss'd her syne,
    While the tear stood twinkling in her e'e;
I said, my lassie, dinna cry.
    For ye aye shall make the bed to me.

She took her mither's holland sheets,
    An' made them a' in sarks to me;
Blythe and merry may she be,
    The lass that made the bed to me.

The bonie lass made the bed to me,
    The braw lass made the bed to me.
I'll ne'er forget till the day I die,
    The lass that made the bed to me.




Page 488. HISTORICAL NOTES

No. 333. When Januar'wind was blawin cauld. ' Scots Musical Museum, 1796, No. 448 entitled The bonie lass made the bed to me. The MS. is in the British Museum. A new version of an old ballad written for and printed in the Museum. Stenhonse, and Chambers after himt printed a bowdlerized and unauthorized short version which the former said was corrected by Burns. The Note and two stanzas in Cromek's Reliques, p. 256, connecting the original ballad with Charles II is not in the Interleaved Museum, and must in the future not be regarded as the statement of Burns. The ballad was printed as a broad side in London as early as 1670. A copy is in the Douce collection entitled Cumberland Nelly or the North Country Lovers . . . Tune The lass thai comes to bed to me. The verses and music are in Pills to purge melancholy, 171^, iv. i, as The Cumberland Lass. The poetry is very prosaic, and if any one is. curious to see how Burns vivified dull verses, he may compare that in our text with the ballad in the Tills. The English tune The Cumberland Lass is not the same as that in the Museum which Stenhouse affirms was communicated by Burns to the editor of that collection. (Illustrations, p. .707.) • The first two phrases resemble Johnie Cope, and the whole structure is unlike a Scottish melody. It may be remarked that, although the English ballad has a chorus, the tune of four lines does service for both verse and chorus. Dauney states that there is a tune entitled To bed to me in Blaikie's MS. 1693.

Personal tools