Highland Lassie, O and Will ye go to the Indies, my Mary (Robert Burns) –Andrew Calhoun

Highland Lassie O

Nae gentle dames, tho’ e’er sae fair
Shall ever be my Muse’s care;
Their titles a’ are empty show;
Gie me my Highland Lassie, O.

Within the glen sae bushy, O,
Aboon the plain sae rushy, O,
I set me down wi’ right gude will,
To sing my Highland Lassie, O.

O were yon hills and vallies mine,
Yon palace and yon gardens fine!
The world then the love should know
I bear my Highland Lassie, O.
Within the glen &c.

But fickle Fortune frowns on me,
And I maun cross the raging sea;
But while my crimson currents flow
I’ll love my Highland Lassie, O.
Within the glen &c.

Altho’ thro’ foreign climes I range,
I know her heart will never change,
For her bosom burns with honour’s glow,
My faithful Highland Lassie, O.
Within the glen &c.

For her I’ll dare the billow’s roar;
For her I’ll trace a distant shore,
That Indian wealth may lustre throw,
Around my Highland Lassie, O.
Within the glen &c

She has my heart, she has my hand,
By sacred Truth and Honor’s band!
Till the mortal stroke shall lay me low,
I’m thine, my Highland Lassie, O.
Farewell the glen sae bushy, O!
Farewell the plain sae rushy, O!
To other lands I now must go
To sing my Highland Lassie, O!

Text from James Currie, Life and Works, v. 4, (1800) pp. 377–8 (as transcribed from MS). As Currie disregarded capitalizations, these are borrowed from Burns's Hastie MS.The Hastie MS, has “McLachlin’s Scots Measure” (a poor fit) crossed out for “To its own tune.” The Hastie MS, has “McLachlin’s Scots Measure” (a poor fit) crossed out for “To its own tune.”
Tune: "The Highland Lassie," from James Oswald’s Caledonian Pocket Companion, book 1 (1743),

Will ye go to the Indies, my Mary tune, Ewe bughts Marion

Will ye go to the Indies, my Mary,
And leave old Scotia’s shore?
Will ye go to the Indies, my Mary,
Across th’ Atlantic roar?

O sweet grows the lime & the orange,
And the apple on the pine,
But a’ the charms o’ the Indies
Can never equal thine.

I hae sworn by the Heavens to my Mary,
I’ve sworn by the Heavens to be true;
And sae may the Heavens forget me,
When I forget my vow!

O plight me your faith, my Mary,
And plight me your lily-white hand;
O plight me your faith, my Mary,
Before I leave Scotia’s strand.

We hae plighted our truth, my Mary,
In mutual affection to join:
And curst be the cause that shall part us!
The hour and the moment o’ time!



Burns’s affair with Mary Campbell took place in April and May 1786.

Text (headed Song), from Burns’s second Commonplace Book (1787–1789). Title provided. . ““Ewe-bughts Marion”—a quite different set from the one you have already published—See, for this, the Orpheus, vol. 2d.” –RB, Letter to James Johnson, August 1795.

Tune: Ew-Bughts Marion, from Orpheus Caledonius, v. 2 (1733),