Familiar Songs - Their Authors & Histories

300 traditional songs, inc sheet music with full piano accompaniment & lyrics.

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884
OUR FAMILIAR SONGS.
THE BIRKS OF ABERFELDY.
This song was written by Burns, for the Museum, in September, 17S7, while visiting the falls of Moness, near Aberfeldy, in Perthshire. The poet and his friend, William Nicol, were there on a tour in the Highlands. There was an old song, called " The Birks of Abergeldy," which had these stanzas:
Bonnie Lassie, will ye go, Will ye go, will ye go, Bonnie Lassie, will ye go,
To the birks of Abergeldy? Ye sail get a gown of silk, A gown of silk, agown of silk, Ye sail get a gown of silk,
And a coat of callimankei.
Na, kind sir, I daur na gang, I daur na gang. I daur na gang, Na, kind sir. I daur na gang,
My minnie wad be angry. Sair, sair wad she flyte, Wad she flyte, wad she flyte; Sair, sair, wad she flyte,
And sair, sair would she ban me.
The air, which appeared in Playford's " Dancing Master," in 1657, is there called " A Scotch ayre."