My Lady’s Gown.
[This song was written by Burns in 1788 for Johnson's Museum, but it does not appear in that work till near the close. It is supposed that Burns was indebted for the idea and some of the words of the song to an old licentious ditty. The tune to which the song is sung is a popular strathspey or reel tune, composed by James Gregg, a teacher of dancing in Ayrshire. Gregg was a very ingenious man, and distinguished in particular for his skill in mechanics. He died in 1817.]
My lady's gown there's gairs upon't,
And gowden springs sae rare upon't;
But Jennie's jimps and jerkinet,
My lord thinks meikle mair upon't.
My lord a-hunting he is gane;
But hounds and hawks wi' him are nane;
By Colin's cottage lies his game,
If Colin's Jennie be at hame.
My lady's white, my lady's red,
And kith and kin o' Cassilis' blude;
But her ten-pund lands o' tocher gude
Were a' the charms his lordship lo'ed.
Out ower yon muir, out ower yon moss,
Where gor-cocks throush the heather pass,
There wons auld Colin's bonnie lass,
A lily in a wilderness.
Sae sweetly move her genty limbs,
Like music-notes o' lovers' hymns;
The diamond-dew in her een sae blue,
Where laughing love sae wanton swims.
My lady's dink, my lady's dress'd,
The flower and fancy o' the west;
But the lassie thrtt a man lo'es best,
O, that's the lass to mak' him blest.