Kellyburnbraes Robert Burns Song Scotland

Tour Scotland travel video of the Kellyburnbraes song by Robert Burns set to a slide show of some old photographs of Scottish braes, brae being a Scots word for a hill.

There lived a carl in Kellyburn Braes,
Hey and the rue grows bonie wi' thyme;
And he had a wife was the plague o' his days,
And the thyme it is wither'd and rue is in prime;
[And he had a wife was the plague o' his days,
And the thyme it is wither'd, and rue is in prime.]

Ae day as the carl gaed up the lang-glen,
Hey and the rue grows bonie wi' thyme;
He met with the devil, says, how do you fen?
And the thyme it is wither'd, and rue is in prime.

I've got a bad wife, Sir, that's a' my complaint,
Hey and the rue grows bonie wi' thyme;
For, savin your presence, to her ye're a saint,
And the thyme it is wither'd, and rue is in prime.

It's neither your stot nor your staig I shall crave,
Hey and the rue grows bonie wi' thyme;
But gie me your wife, man, for her I must have,
And the thyme it is wither'd, and rue is in prime.

O, welcome most kindly! the blythe carl said;
Hey and the rue grows bonie wi' thyme;
But if ye can match her - ye're waur than ye're ca'd,
And the thyme it is wither'd, and rue is in prime.

The devil has got the auld wife on his back,
Hey and the rue grows bonie wi' thyme;
And like a poor pedlar he's carried his pack,
And the thyme it is wither'd, and rue is in prime.

He's carried her hame to his ain hallan-door,
Hey and the rue grows bonie wi' thyme;
Syne bade her gae in, for a bitch, and a whore,
And the thyme it is wither'd, and rue is in prime.

Then straight he makes fifty, the pick o' his band,
Hey and the rue grows bonie wi' thyme;
Turn out on her guard in the clap of a hand,
And the thyme it is wither'd, and rue is in prime.

The carlin gaed thro' them like ony wud bear,
Hey and the rue grows bonie wi' thyme;
Whae'er she gat hands on, cam near her nae mair,
And the thyme it is wither'd, and rue is in prime.

A reekit wee devil looks over the wa',
Hey and the rue grows bonie wi' thyme;
O help, Master, help! or she'll ruin us a',
And the thyme it is wither'd, and rue is in prime.

The devil he swore by the edge o' his knife,
Hey and the rue grows bonie wi' thyme;
He pitied the man that was ty'd to a wife,
And the thyme it is wither'd, and rue is in prime.

The devil he swore by the kirk and the bell,
Hey and the rue grows bonie wi' thyme;
He was not in wedlock, thank Heav'n, but in hell,
And the thyme it is wither'd, and rue is in prime.

Then Satan has travell'd again wi' his pack,
Hey and the rue grows bonie wi' thyme;
And to her auld husband he's carried her back,
And the thyme it is wither'd, and rue is in prime.

I hae been a Devil the feck o' my life,
Hey, and the rue grows bonie wi' thyme;
But ne'er was in hell till I met wi' a wife,
And the thyme it is wither'd, and rue is in prime.
[But ne'er was in hell till I met wi' a wife,
And the thyme it is wither'd, and rue is in prime.]

Robert Burns was born, on the 25 January 1759, two miles south of Ayr, Ayrshire, in Alloway, the eldest of the seven children of William Burnes, a self educated tenant farmer from Dunnottar in the Mearns, and Agnes Broun, the daughter of a Kirkoswald tenant farmer. The only occasion that Robert Burns visited Perth, Perthshire, was towards the end of his 22 day tour of the Highlands during August and September, 1787.

All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.

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