Chorus
My heart's in the Highlands, my heart is not here,
My heart's in the Highlands a-chasing the deer,
A-chasing the wild deer and following the roe -
My heart's in the Highlands, wherever I go!
1.
Farewell to the Highlands, farewell to the North,
The birthplace of valour, the country of worth!
Wherever I wander, wherever I rove,
The hills of the Highlands for ever I love.
2.
Farewell to the mountains high cover'd with snow,
Farewell to the straths and green valleys below,
Farewell to the forests and wild-hanging woods,
Farewell to the torrents and loud-pouring floods!
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2 comments:
Nice! One of the first poems my English teacher made me memorize... Never regretted it... Still under the spell of all things Celtic...
Thank you for your comments; Burns was not a Highlander -that is to say a Gael-but a lowlander -what the Highlanders (Gaels) call
Gall glass or "Sallow Lowlander" but he loved the Highlands and loved Highland music. Many of his songs -like this one had been composed for Gaelic songs by the ancient clan bards- by composing this song Burns preserved the ancient melody which is much older than the song which dates from the late 18th century. The recording I have on the blog is 1950's recording by JO STAFFORD a very fine American singer of the 1940's and 1950's and on to the 60's. She died only a short while ago. But we still have her art. Her Scottish album is now available on CD.
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