Annotation:O I hae seen the roses blaw
X:1 T:Roses Blaw, The T:O I hae seen the roses blaw M:6/8 L:1/8 R:Jig B:William Gunn - The Caledonian Repository of Music B:Adapted for the Bagpipes (Glasgow, 1848, p. 78) Z:AK/Fiddler’s Companion K:Amix e|AAA c2A| d2B G2B|AAA c2d|e2a c2d| e2f g2e|ded BGB|efe dcB|A A2 A2:| |:e|a2e c2A|d2B G2B|a2e c2d|e2a c2d| e2f g2e|ded BGB|efe dcB|A A2 A2:|]
O I HAE SEEN THE ROSES BLAW. AKA - "Roses Blaw (The)." English, Scottish; Song Tune (6/8 time) and Jig. A Mixolydian (Gunn): G Mixolydian (Bruce & Stokoe): G Major (Raven). Standard tuning (fiddle). AB (Bruce & Stokoe): AABB (Raven). Bayard (1981) finds this tune to be the ancestor of his Pennsylvania-collected "Oho Oho I've Found You Out." The lyric, as printed in The Musical Banquet of Songs (1790), begins:
O! I hae seen the roses blaw,
The heather bloom the broom and a',
The lily spring as white as snaw,
Wi' a' their native splendor.
Yet Mary's sweeter on the green,
As fresh an' fair as Flora queen,
Mair stately than the branching bean,
Or like the ivy slender. In nature like a summer day,
Transcendent as a sunny ray,
Her shape and air is frank an' gay,
Wi' a' that's sweet an' tender.