Auld Rob Morris (Burns, set by J. Haydn) (The Lied and Art Song Texts Page: Texts and Translations to Lieder, mélodies, canzoni, and other classical vocal music)


There's auld Rob Morris that wons in yon glen,
He's the king of gude fellows, and wale of auld men;
He has gowd in his coffers, he has sheep, he has kine,
And ae bonnie lassie, his darling and mine.
 
She's fresh as the morning, the fairest in May,
She's sweet as the ev'ning amang the new hay;
As blythe and as artless as the lambs on the lea,
And dear to my heart as the light to my e'e.
 
But oh, she's an heiress, auld Robin's a laird,
And my daddie has nought but a cot-house and yard:
A wooer like me maunna hope to come speed;
The wounds I maun hide which will soon be my dead.
 
O had she but been of a lower degree,
I then might hae hop'd she wad smil'd upon me!
O, how past descriving had then been my bliss,
As now my distraction no words can express!

Glossary

Wons = dwells
Wale = choice
Gowd = gold
Kine = cows
Laird = man of landed property
Cot-house = tied or rented cottage on a farm
Maunna = must not
Descriving = describing

Input by Ferdinando Albeggiani

Authorship

Robert Burns (1759-1796)

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive)

(Franz) Joseph Haydn (1732-1809)

Set in a modified version by

Johanna Kinkel, née Mockel (1810-1858)

Date added to the website: 2009-09-02.

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