RPO -- Robert Burns : Comin thro' the Rye

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Robert Burns (1759-1796)

Comin thro' the Rye

[First Setting]

1.1Comin thro' the rye, poor body,

1.2 Comin thro' the rye,

1.3She draigl't a' her petticoatie

1.4 Comin thro' the rye.

[CHORUS.]

1.5 Oh Jenny 's a' weet poor body

1.6 Jenny 's seldom dry,

1.7 She draigl't a' her petticoatie

1.8 Comin thro' the rye.

1.9Gin a body meet a body

1.10 Comin thro' the rye,

1.11Gin a body kiss a body --

1.12 Need a body cry.

1.13 Oh Jenny 's a' weet, &c.

1.14Gin a body meet a body

1.15 Comin thro' the glen;

1.16Gin a body kiss a body --

1.17 Need the warld ken!

1.18 Oh Jenny 's a' weet, &c.

[Second Setting]

2.1Gin a body meet a body, comin thro' the rye,

2.2Gin a body kiss a body, need a body cry;

2.3Ilka body has a body, ne'er a ane hae I;

2.4But a' the lads they loe me, and what the waur am I.

2.5Gin a body meet a body, comin frae the well,

2.6Gin a body kiss a body, need a body tell;

2.7Ilka body has a body, ne'er a ane hae I,

2.8But a the lads they loe me, and what the waur am I.

2.9Gin a body meet a body, comin frae the town,

2.10Gin a body kiss a body, need a body gloom;

2.11Ilka Jenny has her Jockey, ne'er a ane hae I,

2.12But a' the lads they loe me, and what the waur am I.

Notes

1.1] The first setting is clearly Burns' own; the second setting is unsigned but widely accepted as his.
For the melody, and a text based on a collation of early manuscripts and printed texts, see The Poems and Songs of Robert Burns, ed. James Kinsley (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1968): II, 843-44.
rye: grass grown for grain.

1.3] draigl't: draggled, made wet and soiled by dragging, or lying down.

1.9] Gin: if (perhaps from "gif").

1.15] glen: lonely narrow valley.

1.17] ken: know.

2.3] Ilka: every.
ne'er a ane hae I: never a one have I (meaning, perhaps, that she believes herself unattractive).

2.4] loe: love.
waur: worse off.

2.10] gloom: act sullen.

Online text copyright © 2009, Ian Lancashire (the Department of English) and the University of Toronto.
Published by the Web Development Group, Information Technology Services, University of Toronto Libraries.

Original text: Robert Burns, Songs, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect (Kilmarnock: James M'Kie, 1869): IV, 211-12 (first setting), 213 (second setting). PR 4300 1786ab K5
RPO poem editor: Ian Lancashire
RP edition: RPO 1998.
Recent editing: 4:2002/3/15

Composition date: 1796
Rhyme: first setting: abcb; second setting: aabb

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