Annotation:Braes of Ballochmyle (The)

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BRAES OF BALLOCHMYLE, THE. Scottish, Air (whole time). G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AB. The name of a song written by Robert Burns, on the occasion of "the amiable and excellent family of Whitefoord's leaving Ballochmyle, when Sir John's misfortune obliged him to sell the estate." The 'Maria' named in the first stanza was Maria Whitefoord, later Mrs. Cranstoun. The property was purchased by Claud Alexander, Esq., for whose sister Burns penned "Bonnie Lass o' Ballochmyle (The)."

The Catrine woods were yellow seen,
The flowers decay'd on Catrine lea,
Nae lav'rock sang on hillock green,
But nature sicken'd on the e'e.
Thro' faded groves Maria sang,
Hersel' in beauty's bloom the while;
And aye the wild-wood ehoes rang,
Fareweel the braes o Ballochmyle!

The braes of Ballochmyle extend along the right or north bank of the Ayr, between the village of Catrine and Howford Bridge, about two miles from Burns's farm of Mossgiel.

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