Traditional Scottish Songs
- The Birks of Aberfeldie

Robert Burns wrote this song in 1787 while visiting the falls of Aberfeldy in Perthshire. The chorus comes from an old Aberdeenshire song "Birks of Abergeldie".


The Birks of Aberfeldie

Chorus:
Bonie lassie, will ye go,
Will ye go, will ye go,
Bonie lassie, will ye go
To the birks of Aberfeldie!

Now simmer blinks on flowery braes,
And o'er the crystal streamlet plays;
Come, let us spend the lightsome days,
In the birks of Aberfeldie!

Chorus:

The little birdies blithely sing,
While o'er their heads the hazels hing;
Or lightly flit on wanton wing
In the birks of Aberfeldie!

Chorus:

The braes ascend like lofty wa's,
The foaming stream, deep-roaring, fa's,
O'er-hung wi' fragrant spreading shaws,
The birks of Aberfeldie.

Chorus:

The hoary cliffs are crown'd wi' flowers,
White o'er the linns the burnie pours,
And, rising, weets wi' misty showers
The birks of Aberfeldie.

Chorus:

Let Fortune's gifts at random flee,
They ne'er shall draw a wish frae me;
Supremely blest wi' love and thee
In the birks of Aberfeldie.

Chorus:

Meaning of unusual words:
birks=birches
simmer=summer
braes=hillsides
shaws=woods
linns=cascades of water
burnie=small stream
weets=wets

Return to the Index of Traditional Scottish Songs




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