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Songs and lyrics of Robert Burns

Chapter 24: THE RIGS O’ BARLEY

By Robert Burns

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About This Book

A collected selection of the poet's songs and shorter lyrics presents his explorations of love, nature, rural Scottish life, patriotism, and social observation, often rendered in Scots dialect and intended for musical performance. The volume groups brief pieces alongside several longer poems, supplies a glossary of dialect terms and an index of first lines, and includes illustrative plates. Many lyrics evoke landscapes, domestic scenes, and communal gatherings, balancing tenderness and satire while varying tone from celebratory to elegiac. The arrangement favors lyrical vitality rather than strict chronology, offering readers both popular airs and more extended narrative poems within a single accessible anthology.

THE RIGS O’ BARLEY

It was upon a Lammas night,

When corn rigs are bonnie,

Beneath the moon’s unclouded light

I held awa to Annie:

The time flew by wi’ tentless heed,

Till ’tween the late and early,

Wi’ sma’ persuasion she agreed

To see me thro’ the barley.

The sky was blue, the wind was still,

The moon was shining clearly;

I set her down wi’ right good will

Amang the rigs o’ barley;

I kent her heart was a’ my ain;

I loved her most sincerely;

I kissed her owre and owre again

Amang the rigs o’ barley.

I locked her in my fond embrace;

Her heart was beating rarely;

My blessings on that happy place,

Amang the rigs o’ barley!

But by the moon and stars so bright,

That shone that hour so clearly,

She aye shall bless that happy night

Amang the rigs o’ barley.

I hae been blythe wi’ comrades dear;

I hae been merry drinking;

I hae been joyfu’ gatherin’ gear;

I hae been happy thinking:

But a’ the pleasures e’er I saw,

Tho’ three times doubled fairly,

That happy night was worth them a’,

Amang the rigs o’ barley.

Corn rigs, an’ barley rigs,

An’ corn rigs are bonnie:

I’ll ne’er forget that happy night,

Amang the rigs wi’ Annie.