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Scots Independent

The Flag in the Wind
Features - Songbook
Songs of Robert Burns

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MY HANDSOME NELL

 

O once I lov’d a bonnie lass,
   Ay, and I love her still;
And whilst that virtue warms my breast,
   I’ll love my handsome Nell. 

As bonnie lasses I hae seen,
   And mony full as braw;
But for a modest gracefu’ mien,
   The like I never saw.

A bonnie lass, I will confess,
   Is pleasant to the e’e;
But without some better qualities,
   She’s no’ a lass for me.

But Nelly’s looks are blythe and sweet,
    And what is best of a’,
Her reputation is complete,
   And fair without a flaw.

She dresses aye sae clean and neat,
   Both decent and genteel;
And then there’s something in her gait
   Gars ony dress look weel.

A gaudy dress and gentle air
   May slightly touch the heart;
But it’s innocence and modesty
   That publishes the dart.

‘Tis this in Nell’s pleases me.
   ‘Tis this enchants my soul;
For absolutely in my breast
   She reigns without control.

Flagnote:  This song (his first) arose from the habit of young couples working together at the hairst and the poet falling for his partner Nelly Kilpatrick in 17773. In his first Commonplace Book Robert Burns wrote of the song in August 1783 –

I never had the least thought or inclination of turning Poet till I got once heartily in love, and the rhyme and song were, in a manner, the spontaneous language of my heart. The following composition [Handsome Nell, 1774] was the first of my performances. It is, indeed, very puerile and silly; but I am always pleased with it, as it recalls to my mind those happy days when my heart was yet honest, and my tongue was sincere.

 

 


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