The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #105266 Message #2164116
Posted By: Q (Frank Staplin)
04-Oct-07 - 10:14 PM
Thread Name: Lyr Add: Bonny Doon / The Banks o' Doon
Subject: Lyr Add: THE BANKS O' DOON and BONNY DOON
This old favorite by Robert Burns (or collected by Burns) is represented in the DT by the version in James Johnson's "Scots Musical Museum." I believe this song needs a thread of its own.
Given below are both versions from pp. 275-276, "The Poetical Works of Robert Burns" (with biographical memoir by Alexander Smith and chronological table), a much reprinted work, this one by A. L. Burt, NY. In another thread, Malcolm Douglas gave details of the original printing of this work.
THE BANKS O' DOON*
Tune- "The Caledonian Hunt's delight."
Ye banks and braes o'bonnie Doon,
How can ye bloom sae fresh and fair!
How can ye chant, ye little birds,
And I sae weary fu' o'care!
Thou'lt break my heart, thou warbling bird,
That wantons thro' the flowering thorn:
Thou minds me o' departed joys,
Departed- never to return.
Thou'lt break my heart, thou bonnie bird,
That sings beside thy mate,
For sae I sat, and sae I sang,
And wist na o' my fate.
Aft hae I rov'd by bonnie Doon
To see the rose and woodbine twine;
And ilka bird sang o' its luve,
And fondly sae did I o' mine.
Wi' lightsome heart I pu'd a rose,
Fu' sweet upon its thorny tree;
And my fause luver stole my rose,
But ah! he left the thorn wi' me.
Wi' lightsome heart I pu'd a rose
Upon a morn in June;
And sae I flourish'd on the morn,
And sae was pu'd on noon.
* "This song appeared with Burn's name attached in Johnson's "Museum." The simple and finer version which follows was sent to Mr. Ballantine in 1787. ""While here I sit," Burns writes, "sad and solitary, by the side of a fire in a little country inn, and drying my wet clothes."
Other names for the tune specified by Burns?
VERSION PRINTED IN THE MUSICAL MUSEUM
Lyr. Add: THE BANKS O' DOON (2)
Ye flowery banks o' bonnie Doon,
How can ye blume sae fair?
How can ye chant, ye little birds,
Abd I sae fu' o' care.
Thou'll break my heart, thou bonnie bird,
That sings upon the bough;
Thou minds me o' the happy days,
When my fause luve was true.
Thou'll break my heart, thou bonnie bird,
That sing beside thy mate;
For sae I sat, and sae I sang,
And wist na o' my fate.
Aft hae I rov'd by bonnie Doon,
To see the woodbine twine,
And ilka a bird sang o' his love,
And sae did I o' mine.
Wi' lightsome heart I pu'd a rose
Frae off its thorny tree;
And my fause luver staw the rose
But left the thorn wi' me.
The song appears in slightly different form in a broadside printed between 1821-1850 by Stephenson (Gatehead), Harding B11(407), paired with "A Woman Is the Pride of the Land."
LYR. ADD: BONNY DOON (broadside)
Ye banks and braes of bonny Doon,
How can ye bloom so fresh and fair,
How can you chant ye little birds,
When I'm so wae and fu' o' care?
Ye'll break my heart, ye little birds,
That wanton thro' the flow'ry thorn,
Ye mind me of departed joys,
Departed, never to return.
Oft have I roam'd on bonny Doon,
To see the rose and woodbine twine;
Where ilka bird sung o'er its note,
And cheerfully I joined with mine;
With heartsome glee I pu'd a rose,
A rose out of yon thorny tree;
But my false love has stoun the rose
And left the thorn behind to me.
Ye roses blaw your bonny blooms,
And draw the wild birds by the burn,
For Luman promis'd me a ring,
And ye maun aid me should I mourn;
Ah! na, na, na, ye need na sing,
My een are dim and drowsy worn,
Ye bonny birds, ye needna sing,
For Luman never can return.
My Luman's love, in broken sighs
At dawn of day by Doon you'd hear,
And mid-day by the willow green,
For him I'd shed a silent tear.
Sweet birds,, I ken you'll pity me,
And join me wi' a plaintive sang,
While echo waits and joins the mame,
I make 'er him I lo'ed sae long.
The last two lines in a broadside printed by L. Deming, Boston, MA, titled "Bonny Doun" -
While echo waits and joins the mane,
I make for him I look'd sae long.
Otherwise the two are almost identical.
A long note, with possibly antecedent musical score, appears in William Chappell, "Popular Music of the Olden Time, vol. 2, pp. 794-795, Dover reprint of the 1859 Chappell & Co. edition. "Burns thought the tune of ... to have been made by an amateur,..." The score given is from Dale's Collection of English Songs (i. 157). Chappell says the alteration was probably made by Stephen Clarke for the "Scots' Musical Museum."
I am not qualified to comment; perhaps Malcolm Douglas will help in this regard.
An abbreviated version, with score, pp. 300-301, appears in "Heart Songs, Melodies of Days Gone By," published by Chapple for World Syndicate, 1909.