Tune Req: She Says She Loves Me Best of A'

Subject: She Says She Loves Me Best of A'
From: jshively
Date: 12 Aug 01 - 12:34 AM

This was written by Robert Burns, but I have been unable to find any music to go with it. I like the song so I made up a tune so I can sing but I would like the original tune if there is one.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: She Says She Loves Me Best of A'
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 12 Aug 01 - 09:28 AM

We don't have the text here, so I'll add that too:

SHE SAYS SHE LO'ES ME BEST OF A'

(Robert Burns, 1794. Tune, An Irish Air [Oonagh's Waterfall].)

Sae flaxen were her ringlets,
Her eyebrows of a darker hue,
Bewitchingly o'erarching
Twa laughing e'en o' bonie blue.-
Her smiling, sae wyling,
Wad make a wretch forget his woe;
What pleasure, what treasure,
Unto these rosy lips to grow:
Such was my Chloris' bonie face,
When first her bonie face I saw;
And aye my Chloris' dearest charm,
She says, she lo'es me best of a'.-

Like harmony her motion,
Her pretty ankle is a spy,
Betraying fair proportion,
Wad make a saint forget the sky.-
Sae warming, sae charming,
Her fauteless form and gracefu' air;
Ilk feature-auld Nature
Declar'd that she could do nae mair:
Hers are the willing chains o' love,
By conquering Beauty's sovereign law;
And ay my Chloris' dearest charm-
She says, she lo'es me best of a'.-

Let others love the city,
And gaudy show, at sunny noon;
Gie me the lonely valley,
The dewy eve and rising moon
Fair beaming, and streaming,
Her silver light the boughs amang;
While falling; recalling,
The amorous thrush concludes his sang;
There, dearest Chloris, wilt thou rove,
By wimpling burn and leafy shaw,
And hear my vows o' truth and love,
And say, thou lo'es me best of a'.-

Oonagh's Waterfall was also known as Una's Lock; under that name, it can be found in ABC format at Bruce Olson's website:  Tunes in ABC for Scarce Songs 1.  Bruce also gives the erotic song text, from The Merry Muses of Caledonia, in  Scarce Songs 1: Una's Lock  (Large file).

The tune, as printed in Johnson's Musical Museum (1787-1803) can also be found via  J C's Tunefinder, where it can be retrieved in a number of formats including midi and staff notation; for example: Una's Lock (gif)

Subject: RE: Tune Req: She Says She Loves Me Best of A'
From: masato sakurai
Date: 12 Aug 01 - 10:16 AM

Besides The Scots Musical Museum, the tune is also in The Poems and Songs of Robert Burns, 3 vols., edited by James Kinsley (Oxford, 1968), and in The Songs of Robert Burns, by James C. Dick (1903; Folklore Associates, 1962), both with commentaries; the latter's title being "Sae flaxen were her ringlets". Linn Records is now publishing "Robert Burns: The Complete Songs" in 12 vols., but, in 7 of them that I've got, "She says ..." is not. Let's wait for other volumes to be released.