Tune Donald Blue -
O how can I be blythe & glad, 
Or how can I gang brisk & braw; 
When the bonie lad that I lo'e best, 
Is o'er the hills & far awa. - 
Its no the frosty winter wind, 
Its no the driving drift & snaw 
But ay the tear comes in my e'e, 
To think on him that's far awa.- 
My father pat me frae his door, 
My friends they hae disown'd me a' 
But I hae ane will tak my part, 
The bonie lad that's far awa.- 
A pair o'gloves he gave to me, 
And silken snoods he gave me twa; 
And I will wear them for his sake, 
The bonie lad that's far awa. - 
The weary winter soon will pass, 
And spring will deed the birken-shaw 
And my sweet babie will be born, 
And he'll come hame that's far awa.- 
_________________
  Key details
        
          
                                      - Archive number
 
              - NTS/02/25/BRN/02/120
 
                                                                - Alt. number
 
                              - 3.6284
 
                                                                                        - On display
 
              - No
 
                                                                - Creator
 
                              - Burns, Robert (Author)
 
                                                            
                            
      
- Archive number
 - NTS/02/25/BRN/02/120
 - Alt. number
 - 3.6284
 - On display
 - No
 - Creator
 - Burns, Robert (Author)
 
Description
The bonie lad that's far awa. Begins: "O how can I be blythe and glad".   A poem modelled on the 17th century ballad "The Unconstant Shepherd or  the Forsaken Lass's Lamentation".  5 Four-line verses.
Burns based this song on the seventeenth century ballad The Unconstant Shepherd; or, the Forsaken Lass's Lamentation. It is set to the tune of Donald Blue. The song appeared in both Johnson's Scots Musical Museum in 1792 as well as Thomson's A Select Collection of Original Scottish Airs for the Voice.
Archive information
Themes
Hierarchy
- 
                                  Robert Burns, collection of poems and songs
                  (
	a sub-fonds is a subdivision in the archival material)
 - The bonie lad that's far awa
 
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