Digital Tradition Mirror

The Gallant Weaver

(This score available as ABC, SongWright, PostScript, PNG, or PMW, or a MIDI file)
Pennywhistle notation and Dulcimer tab for this song is also available

The Gallant Weaver
(Robert Burns)

Whaur Card rins rowin' tae the sea
By mony a flower and spreading tree,
There lives a lad, the lad for me,
He is a gallant weaver.
     O, I've had wooers eight or nine;
     They gied me rings and ribbons fine
     And I was feared my hairt was twine
     And I gied it tae the weaver.

My daddy signed my tocher band
Tae gies the lad wha has the land,
But tae my hairt I'll add my hand
And I'll gie it tae the weaver.
     While birds rejoice in leafy bowers,
     While bees rejoice in op'ning flowers,
     While corn grows green in summer showers,
     I love my gallant weaver.

Note: the lyrics here are probably not exactly as Burns gave
     them; his spellings of Scots words were unusual.
     Unfortunately the book in which I found his text is
     missing, and my only recording of the song (by Carla
     Sciaky on "Spin the Weaver's Song") has been anglicised.
     But I memorized the words while I had the book; the text
     here is phonetically correct or nearly. RW

glossary:
     gie: give
     gied: gave
     gies: give [to]
     hairt: heart
     mony: many
     rins: runs
     tae: to
     tocher: dowry
     twine: part, i.e. be broken
     whaur: where

RW

Thanks to Mudcat for the Digital Tradition!