I'M A
ROVER AND SELDOM SOBER
Tradional
I'm a rover and seldom sober,
I'm a rover o' high degree;
It's when I'm drunking I'm always thinking
How to gain my love's company.
Though the nicht be as dark as dungeon,
No' a star to be seen above,
I will be guided without a stumble
Into the airms o' my ain true love.
He steppit up to her bedroom window,
Kneelin' gently upon a stone,
He rappit at her bedroom window:
"Darlin' dear, do you lie alone?"
She raised her head on her snaw white pillow,
Wi' her airms aboot her breast,
"Wha is that at my bedroom window,
Disturbing me at my lang nicht's rest?"
'"It's only me, your ain true lover
Open the door and let me in,
For I hae come on a lang journey
And I'm drenched unto the skin.'"
She opened the door wi' the greatest pleasure,
She opened the door and she let him in.
They baith shook hands and embraced each other,
Until the morning they lay as one.
The cocks were crawin', the birds were whistlin',
The burns they ran free abune the brae;
"Remember lass I'm a ploughman laddie
And the fairmer I must obey.
"Noo ma love, I must go and leave you,
Tae
climb the hills, they are far above;
But
I will climb them wi' the greatest pleasure,
Since I've been in the airms o' my love."
Footnote : One of the most popular night
visiting songs, according to Ewan MacColl it is related to The Grey Cock
( The Lover's Ghost ), a ballad in which the girl is visited by the
ghost of dead lover. Here, however, the supernatural part of the plot
has entirely disappeared.
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