As I cam down by yon castle wa'


As I cam down by yon castle wa', And in by yon garden green, O there I spied a bony bony lass, But the flower-borders were us between. A bony bony lassie she was, As ever mine eyes did see: O five hundred pounds would I give, For to have such a pretty bride as thee. To have such a pretty bride as me, Young man ye are sairly mista'en; Tho' ye were king o' fair Scotland, I wad disdain to be you queen. Talk not so very high, bony lass, O talk not so very, very high: The man at the fair that wad sell, He maun learn at the man that wad buy. I trust to climb a far higher tree, And herry a far richer nest: Tak this advice o' me, bony lass, Humility wad set thee best.

Listen

Douglas Henshall

About this work

This is a song by Robert Burns. It was written in 1792 and is read here by Douglas Henshall.

More about this song

Burns related to James Johnson that this was ‘a very popular Ayrshire song’.

There is no evidence, however, that Burns actually ‘corrected’ the song in anyway, and it is possible that it remains an untouched folk-song.

The air itself first appears in The Scots Musical Museum (1792).

Ralph McLean

Themes for this song

womannature

Selected for 02 June

The present monarch, Queen Elizabeth the first of Scotland and second of England, who reigns as Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, was crowned on June 2nd, 1953 in a televised ceremony seen all over the Commonwealth and beyond. This song has a queen in it too...

Donny O'Rourke

Skip to top

BBC © 2014The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read more.

This page is best viewed in an up-to-date web browser with style sheets (CSS) enabled. While you will be able to view the content of this page in your current browser, you will not be able to get the full visual experience. Please consider upgrading your browser software or enabling style sheets (CSS) if you are able to do so.