by Robert Burns (1759 - 1796)
Wilt thou be my dearie?
Language: Scottish (Scots)
Our translations: FRE
Wilt thou be my dearie? When sorrow wrings thy gentle heart, [O]1 wilt thou let me chear thee? By the treasure of my soul — That's the love I bear thee — I swear and vow that only thou Shall ever be my dearie ! Only thou, I swear and vow, Shall ever be my dearie ! Lassie, say thou lo'es me, Or if thou wilt na be my ain, [Sayna]2 thou'lt refuse me ! If it winna, canna be, Thou for thine may choose me, Let me, lassie, quickly die, Trusting that thou lo'es me ! Lassie, let me quickly die, Trusting that thou lo'es me!
About the headline (FAQ)
View original text (without footnotes)Confirmed with The Complete Poetical Works of Robert Burns, Cambridge edition, Boston and New York, Houghton Mifflin Company, 1897, page 259. Note: Foote's score spells "chear" as "cheer" in line 3.
1 omitted by Beach.2 Beach: "Say na"
Text Authorship:
- by Robert Burns (1759 - 1796), "Wilt thou be my dearie?" [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Amy Marcy Cheney Beach (1867 - 1944), "Wilt thou be my dearie?", op. 12 (Three Songs) no. 1 [ voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Arthur Foote (1853 - 1937), "Wilt Thou Be My Dearie?" [ voice and piano ], from 2 Old Scotch Songs, no. 2 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by (Franz) Joseph Haydn (1732 - 1809), "The sutor's doughter", Hob. XXXIa:198, JHW XXXII/3 no. 227 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by William Martin Yeates Hurlstone (1876 - 1906), "Wilt thou be my dearie?", published 1902 [ baritone and piano ], from Four Songs [for baritone], no. 1, London, Edwin Ashdown [sung text not yet checked]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- CZE Czech (Čeština) (Josef Václav Sládek) , "Chceš-li mojí být?"
- FRE French (Français) (Pierre Mathé) , copyright © 2014, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Research team for this page: Guy Laffaille [Guest Editor] , Pierre Mathé [Guest Editor] , Johann Winkler
This text was added to the website: 2008-06-08
Line count: 18
Word count: 103