Annotation:Busk Ye Busk Ye My Bonny Bride

Back to Busk Ye Busk Ye My Bonny Bride

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BUSK YE BUSK YE MY BONNY BRIDE. Scottish, Air (4/4 time). D Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABBCCDD. The song is quite old, and is often know by the titles "The Braes of Yarrow", "The Yetts of Gowie" and other titles. The Braes of Yarrow (which begins, "Busk ye, busk ye, my bonny bonny bride") is a 30 stanza was written by William Hamilton of Bangour (1704-1754), Ayrshire, a version of which can be found in Allan Ramsay's The Tea Table Miscellany (1724, a volume Hamilton assisted with). Hamilton became enamored by the cause of Bonnie Prince Charlie, and joined the Jacobites in the rising of 1745, becoming a 'volunteer laureate' by celebrating the battle of Gladsmuir in verse. He was forced to flee to the Continent upon the defeat of Culloden, but procured a pardon and returned a few years later.

Busk ye, busk ye, my bonnie, bonnie bride,
Busk ye, busk ye, my winsome marrow
Busk ye, busk ye, my bonnie, bonnie bride,
And think nae mair o' the braes of Yarrow.
Where got ye that bonnie, bonnie, bride?
Where got ye that winsome marrow?
I got her where I darena well be seen,
Pu'ing the birks on the braes of Yarrow.

Source for notated version:

Printed sources: McGibbon (Scots Tunes, Book II), c. 1746; p. 48. Oswald (Caledonian Pocket Companion, Book 6), 1760; p. 12.

Recorded sources:

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