Andro and his cutty gun.
[The lively and popular tune of "Andro and his cutty gun," otherwise known by the name of "Blythe, blythe and merry was she," is old. The song is given in the fourth vol. of the Tea-Table Miscellany, without any mark. "This blythsome song," says Burns, "so full of Scottish humour and convivial merriment, is an intimate favourite at bridal trystes and house-heatings. It contains a spirited picture of a country ale-house, touched off with all the lightsome gayety so peculiar to the rural muse of Scotland." Elsewhere, in a letter to Thomson (Nov. 19, 1794) "'Andro and his cutty gun' is the work of a master." A "Hawick gill," alluded to in the chorus, was a double gill: a "tappit-hen" was a quart stoup with a nob on the top of the lid.]
Blythe, blythe, and merry was she,
Blythe was she but and ben;
And weel she loo'd a Hawick gill,
And leugh to see a tappit hen.
She took me in, and set me down,
And hecht to keep me lawing-free;
But, cunning carline that she was,
She gart me birl my bawbee.
We loo'd the liquor well enough;
But waes my heart my cash was done,
Before that I had quench'd my drouth,
And laith I was to pawn my shoon.
When we had three times toom'd our stoup,
And the neist chappin new begun,
Wha started in, to heeze our hope,
But Andro wi' his cutty gun.
The carline brought her kebbuck ben,
With girdle-cakes weel toasted brown,
Weel does the canny kimmer ken
They gar the swats gae glibber down.
We ca'd the bicker aft about;
Till dawning we ne'er jee'd our bun,
And aye the cleanest drinker out,
Was Andro wi' his cutty gun.
He did like ony mavis sing,
And as I in his oxter sat
He ca'd me aye his bonnie thing,
And mony a sappy kiss I gat.
I ha'e been east, I ha'e been west,
I ha'e been far ayont the sun;
But the blythest lad that e'er I saw,
Was Andro wi' his cutty gun.
Blythe was she.
[Written by Burns, in 1787, to the tune of "Andro and his cutty gun," and published in the second vol. of Johnson's Museum. "I composed these verses," says the poet, "while I strayed at Auchtertyre with Sir William Murray." The heroine was "Miss Euphemia Murray, commonly and deservedly called The Flower of Strathmore." Miss Murray was distinguished for her affability as well as beauty, and delighted in pointing out to the poet the romantic scenery of the banks of the Earn. She was married in 1794 to Lord Methven, a judge in the court of session.]
Blythe, blythe and merry was she,
Blythe was she but and ben,
Blythe by the banks of Earn,
And blythe in Glenturit glen.
By Ochtertyre there grows the aik
On Yarrow braes the birken shaw,
But Phemie was a bonnier lass
Than braes o' Yarrow ever saw.
Her looks were like a flower in May,
Her smile was like a simmer morn;
She tripped by the banks o' Earn,
As light's a bird upon a thorn.
Her bonnie face it was as meek,
As onie lamb upon a lee;
The evening sun was ne'er sae sweet
As was the blink o' Phemie's e'e.
The Highland hills I've wander'd wide,
And o'er the Lawlands I ha'e been;
But Phemie was the blythest lass,
That ever trod the dewy green.
