More about this song
Tune: Katherine Ogie
Burns to George Thomson, 14 November 1792:
"The foregoing song pleases myself; I think it is in my happiest manner: you will see at first glance that it suits the air. The subject of the song is one of the most interesting passages of my youthful days, and I own that I would be much flattered to see the verses set to an air which would ensure celebrity. Perhaps, after all, 'tis the still glowing prejudice of my heart that throws a borrowed lustre over the merits of the composition[...] I take one or another, just as the bee of the moment buzzes in my bonnet-lug; and do you, sans ceremonie, make what use you choose of the productions. Adieu. ROBT. BURNS"
The 'interesting passage of youth' alluded to by Burns is the figure of 'Highland' Mary Campbell (1763-1786), about whose romantic relationship with the Bard much is speculated. The figure of Mary also appears in 1786's 'Highland Lassie, O' and 'Will ye go to the Indies my Mary?"
Highland Mary marks a change from these verses, however, in the third stanza which indicates her death (with allusions to star-crossed Shakespearean lovers Romeo & Juliet in ll. 21-22).
The slightly elegiac and lamenting tone seems suitable, as Burns indicates his last goodbyes in l.7, but the end of the verse reminds us that she still lives on in memory - and, with the publication of the lyric in 1792, in print.
Lisa Harrison
