Previous work: There's news lasses news
Next work: They took me to the Haly Band
There's three true gude fellows, There's three true gude fellows, There's three true gude fellows Down ayont yon glen. Its now the day is dawin, But or night to fa' in, Whase cock's best at crawin, Willie thou sall ken.
This is a song by Robert Burns. It was written in 1796 and is read here by Blythe Duff.
Pauline MackayBurns's version of 'There's three true good fellows' appeared in James Johnson's Scots Musical Museum in 1796. While the chorus of the song is traditional, the verse is thought to be the poet's own.
According to a letter from Burns to Alexander Cunningham in May 1789, the poet turned his hand to this song to honour three of his good friends: Cunningham himself (d. 1812), Robert Cleghorn (d.1798) and William Dunbar (d. 1807).
Burns met all three men while in Edinburgh promoting Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect (1787) and it is thought that the comrades were all members of the convivial gentleman's club The Crochallan Fencibles, which met at Dawnie Douglas's Tavern in Anchor Close.
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.
