Ae fond kiss
Written for Agnes McLehose (Nancy) on her departure for Jamaica in
January 1792.
Burns' pen name for Agnes was Clarinda - she sailed from Greenock onboard
the Roselle
- ironically the ship which should have carried Burns himself five years
earlier.
Auld lang syne
A traditional ballad reworked by Burns, the tune had been in print since
1700.
Described by the poet as 'the old song of the olden times, and which has
never been in print
nor even in manuscript, until I took it down from an old man's singing'.
Ye banks and braes o' bonnie Doon
In his letter of 11th March 1791 to Cunningham, Burns wrote "I have
this evening
sketched out a song....intended to sing to a Strathspey Reel."
To a mountain daisy
On turning one down with the plough on April 1786, at West Mossgiel farm,
Mauchline.
A man's a man for a' that
From January 1795. The intense contempt of rank makes this a radical
revolutionary song.
The Selkirk Grace
Probably dating from the 17th Century, delivered by Burns in the presence
of the Earl of Selkirk, at Kirkudbright.
Scots wha hae
Written after Burns visited the field of battle at Bannockburn, near
Stirling
on 26th August 1787, where Robert the Bruce won a temporary liberty for
Scotland from King Edward II of England.
To a louse
Probably written in late 1785, on seeing a louse on a Lady's bonnet at
Church.
Address to a haggis
The closing stanza was composed extempore during a dinner at the home of
John Morrison, a Mauchline cabinet-maker, and completed soon after Burns
arrived in Edinburgh.
To a mouse
Written in November 1785, on turning her up in her nest with the plough
at West Mossgiel farm, Mauchline.
Death and Doctor Hornbook
Hornbook was a popular term for schoolmasters. Burns was inspired to
write this
saltire in 1785 after hearing John Wilson, Tarbolton schoolmaster, airing
his medical
knowledge at a meeting of Tarbolton Masonic Lodge.
My luve is like a red red rose
An old ballad reworked by Burns, first published by Pietro Urbani in
April 1794.
Green grow the rashes O'
A reworked version of the ancient ballad 'Cou thou me the raschyes grene'
first published in 1549.
Rantin, rovin Robin
Possibly written in flippant celebration of Burns' 28th birthday, 'Robin'
refers to himself.
Of a' the airts the wind can blaw
Written 'out of compliment to Mrs Burns' during the honeymoon of his
marriage to Jean Armour of Mauchline.
Tam O' Shanter
Composed to accompany an engraving of Alloway Kirk.
Loosely based on Douglas Graham of Shanter whose wife Helen was a
superstitious shrew.
He was prone to drunkenness on market day, and on one such occasion the
wags of Ayr
clipped his horses tail - a fact he explained away by a story of witches
which mollified his incredulous wife.