Banks o' Doon, The

DESCRIPTION: The singer asks how the banks of bonnie Doon can bloom "sae fresh and fair" when she is separated from her love. She pulled a rose, which her lover took while leaving her the thorn
AUTHOR: Robert Burns
EARLIEST DATE: 1792 (Scots Musical Museum)
KEYWORDS: love courting abandonment nonballad
FOUND IN: Britain(England(South))
REFERENCES (6 citations):
Williams-Wiltshire-WSRO Wt 415, "Ye Banks and Braes of Bonny Doon" (1 text)
Jolly-Miller-Songster-5thEd, #100, "Bonnie Doon" (1 text)
Dime-Song-Book #9, p. 45, "Banks and Braes o' Bonnie Doon" (1 text)
Ford-SongHistories, pp. 150-157, "The Banks o' Doon" (3 texts, of the various states of the song)
DT, BNKSBRAE* BANKBRA2*
ADDITIONAL: Walter de la Mare, _Come Hither_, revised edition, 1928; #55, "Ye Banks and Braes o' Bonnie Doon" (1 text)
Roud #13889
RECORDINGS:
Henry Burr, "Ye Banks and Braes o' Bonnie Doon" (Columbia A339, 1909; rec. 1902); "Bonny Doon" (Victor 4426, 1905; Victor 4426/Victor 16152, 1908 (re-recording))
BROADSIDES:
NLScotland, L.C.1269(108a), "Banks of Doon," unknown, c. 1880
SAME TUNE:
The Son's Return ("With joy I hail your safe return") (Wolf-AmericanSongSheets p. 148)
Southern Chivalry ("Shall Northern Statesmen, when they speak") (Wolf-AmericanSongSheets p. 149)
The Voice of Toil ("I heard men saying, leave hope and praying, All days shall be as all have been") (Foner, p. 322)
NOTES [124 words]: My initial notes said that Burns wrote "two versions of this poem, both coming out in 1791." According to Ford-SongHistories, there were actually three. The first begins "Sweet are the banks, the banks o' Doon," and was reportedly based on the sufferings of a jilted young woman named Miss Kennedy.
The second version begins, "Ye flowery banks o' bonnie Doon, How can ye blume sae fair"; it is to the tune "Cambdelmore," which is in 4/4 time.
The final version, more familiar to me and seemingly more popular in tradition, opens "Ye banks and braes o' bonie Doon, How can ye bloom sae fresh and fair"; the tune is "The Caledonian Hunt's Delight," in 6/8 time. The three are obviously the same song, but it evolved quite a bit along the way. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.6
File: CTbnksbr

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