Roy’s wife (George Short)
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- (Posted 2023-12-07) CPDL #77933:
- Editor: David Anderson (submitted 2023-12-07). Score information: Letter, 12 pages, 675 kB Copyright: Personal
- Edition notes:
General Information
Title: Roy’s wife
Composer: George Short
Lyricist: Elizabeth Grant
Number of voices: 4vv Voicing: SATB
Genre: Secular, Partsong, Folksong
Language: Lowland Scots
Instruments: A cappella
First published: 1913 Strathearn
Description:
External websites:
Original text and translations
English text
Roy’s wife of Aldivalloch,
Roy’s wife of Aldivalloch,
Wat ye how she cheated me,
As I cam’ o’er the braes of Balloch?
She vow’d, she swore she wad be mine;
She said she lo’ed me best o’ onie;
But ah! the fickle, faithless quean,
She’s ta’en the carle, and left her Johnnie!
O, she was a cantie quean,
Weel could she dance the Highland walloch,
How happy I, had she been mine,
Or I been Roy of Aldivalloch.
Her hair sae fair, her een sae clear,
Her wee bit mou’ sae sweet and bonnie;
To me she ever will be dear,
Though she’s for ever left her Johnnie.
Elizabeth Grant of Carron (1745-1814), near Elchies, on the river Spey.
[Sometimes erroneously ascribed to Mrs. Grant of Laggan.]
In a letter dated 1793, Burns wrote that he had original words for Roy’s Wife by “the lady who composed it.”