Get Your Premium Membership

369. Song—My Collier Laddie

 WHARE live ye, my bonie lass?
 And tell me what they ca’ ye;
My name, she says, is mistress Jean,
 And I follow the Collier laddie.
 My name, she says, &c.


See you not yon hills and dales
 The sun shines on sae brawlie;
They a’ are mine, and they shall be thine,
 Gin ye’ll leave your Collier laddie.
 They a’ are mine, &c.


Ye shall gang in gay attire,
 Weel buskit up sae gaudy;
And ane to wait on every hand,
 Gin ye’ll leave your Collier laddie.
 And ane to wait, &c.


Tho’ ye had a’ the sun shines on,
 And the earth conceals sae lowly,
I wad turn my back on you and it a’,
 And embrace my Collier laddie.
 I wad turn my back, &c.


I can win my five pennies in a day,
 An’ spen’t at night fu’ brawlie:
And make my bed in the collier’s neuk,
 And lie down wi’ my Collier laddie.
 And make my bed, &c.


Love for love is the bargain for me,
 Tho’ the wee cot-house should haud me;
And the warld before me to win my bread,
 And fair fa’ my Collier laddie!
 And the warld before me, &c.






Book: Reflection on the Important Things