Glen Collection of printed music > Printed music > Minstrelsy of Scotland

a wee birb cant' to our ba' boor.
WAE'S ME FOB PRINCE CHAKLIE.*
Voice.
Verses by William Glen.
Andante espressivo.
Air: " Jolinnie Faa, or the Gipsie Laddie."
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1. A
2. Quotli
3. "On
4. "Dark
5. But
wee
I,
hills
night
now
bird
"My
that
cam'
the
cam
bird,
are,
on,
bird
to our ha' door,
my bon - nie, bon-nie bird,
by right, his ain,
the tern - pest roar'd
saw some red coats,
He war - bled sweet
Is that a sang
He roves a lane
Loud o'er the hills
An' he shcolc his wings
an
ye
h
an'
wi'
* A version of this air appears in the Skene MS. 1615-1620, under the title of " Ladie Cassilles Lilt." ^VilIiam Glen, the author of the
lovely verses *' Wae's me for Prince Charlie," was a native of Glasgow. He died in that city about 1824 in extreme poverty. The old ballad
of "Johnny Faa" is given in The Tea-table Miscellany. It treats of the abduction of Lady Cassilis by the gypsies, and according to Ritson,
neighbouring tradition strongly vouches for the truth of the story.
The gypsies cam' to our gude Lord's yett
And vow. but they sang sweetly;
They sang ^ae sweet and sae very compleat.
That down cam' the fair ladye.
Of this ballad. Burns remarks that " it is the only old song wliich he could ever trace as belonging to the extensive county of Ayr." M'Gibbon
inserted the air in his Scots Tunes, Bk. II., 1746, as " Johnnie l"aa."