The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #5264   Message #1299425
Posted By: GUEST,Murray on Saltspring
17-Oct-04 - 11:43 PM
Thread Name: Lyr Req: A Gordon for Me (Robert Wilson)
Subject: Lyr Add: THE THISTLE O' SCOTLAND
This is from Norman's Buchan's wee book "101 Scottish Songs", p. 123; Author given as Malcolm Macfarlane (from the Gaelic of Evan MacColl).

THE THISTLE O' SCOTLAND

[CHORUS:] O the Thistle o' Scotland was famous of auld,
Wi' its toorie sae snod and its bristles sae bauld,
'Tis the badge of my country, it's aye dear tae me;
And the thocht o' them baith brings the licht tae my e'e.

[VERSE:] Its strength and its beauty the storm never harms;
It stan's on its guard like a warrior in arms;
Yet its down is as saft as the gulls on the sea,
And its tassie as bricht as my Jeannie's blue e'e.

O, my country, what wonder yer fame's gane afar;
For yer sons ha'e been great baith in peace and in war;
While the sang and the tale live they'll win respect,
The lads 'neath the bonnets wi' thistles bedeckt.

Lang syne the invaders cam owre to our shore,
And fiercely our thistle they scutched and they tore;
When they maist thocht it deid, 'twas then it up bore,
And it bloomed on their graves quite as strong as before.

My blessings be yours! Is there Scotsman ava
Wad stan' by and see ony harm on ye fa'?
Is there gentle or semple wha lives in our land
Wad refuse to drink health to the thistle so grand?