Subject: Lyr Add: THIS IS NO MA AIN HOOSE
From:
Malcolm Douglas
Date: 28 Oct 00 - 12:51 PM
The version on the DT is a children's song (hence the use of hoose, where tune and song are -historically- usually spelt house). Here is a more complete version, from Jacobite Songs and Ballads, ed. G.S. MacQuoid (date unknown):
THIS IS NO MY AIN HOUSE
Chorus:
O This is no my ain house,
I ken by the biggin o't;
For bow-kail thrave at my door cheek
And thistles on the riggin o't.
A carle came wi' lack o' grace,
Wi' unco gear and unco face;
And sin he claimed my daddy's; place,
I downa bide the triggin o't.
W' routh o' kin and routh o' reek,
My daddy's door it wadna steek;
But bread and cheese were his door cheek,
And girdle cakes the riggin o't.
My daddy bag his housie weel,
By dint o' head and dint o' heel,
By dint o' arm and dint o' steel,
And muckle weary priggin o't.
Then was it dink, or was it douce
For ony cringing foreign goose
To claucht my daddie's wee bit house,
Ans spoil the hamely triggin o't?
Say, was it foul, or was it fair,
To come a hunder mile and mair,
For to ding out my daddy's heir,
And dash him wi' the whiggin o't?
It may well be a re-write of an earlier song. Burns was familiar with the melody, and set his This is no my ain lassie to it. Alan Ramsay re-made it as a love-song, which not everybody considered an improvement:
THIS IS NO MINE AIN HOUSE.
(Alan Ramsay, 1686-1758)
This is no mine ain house,
I ken by the rigging o't;
Since with my love I've changed vows,
I dinna like the bigging o't.
For now that I'm young Robbie's bride,
And mistress of his fire-side,
Mine ain house I'll like to guide,
And please me with the rigging o't.
Then fareweel to my father's house,
I gang whare love invites me;
The strictest duty this allows,
When love with honour meets me.
When Hymen moulds us into ane,
My Robbie's dearer than my kin;
And to refuse him were a sin,
Sae lang's he kindly treats me.
When I'm in my ain house,
True love shall be at hand aye,
To make me still a prudent spouse,
And let my man command aye;
Avoiding ilka cause of strife,
The common pest of married life,
That maks ane wearied of his wife,
And breaks the kindly band aye.
Malcolm
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