Subject: Lyr. Add: Auld Langsyne, Watson 1711
From:
Q
Date: 31 Oct 08 - 05:23 PM
Lyr. Add: AULD LANGSYNE Watson 1711
Tune- "For old lang Gine my Joe," Playford Collection.
1
Should auld acquaintance be forgot
An never thought upon,
The flames of love extinguished,
And freely past and gone;
Is thy heart, now grown so cold,
In that loving breast of thine,
That thou can'st never once reflect
On auld langsyne?
2
Where are thy protestations--
Thy vows and oaths, my dear,
Thou made to me, and I to thee,
In register yet clear:
In faith and truth so violate
To the immortal gods devine,
That thou can'st never once reflect
On auld langsyne?
3
Is't Cupid's fears, or frostie cares,
That makes thy sp'rits decay?
Or is't some object of more worth
That's stolen thy heart away?
Or some desert makes thee neglect
Her once so much was thine,
That thou can'st never once reflect
On auld langsyne?
4
Is't worldly cares so desperate
That makes thee to despair?
Is't that makes thee exasperate,
And makes thee to forbear?
If thou of that were free as I,
Thou surely should be mine,
And then, of new, we would renew
Kind auld langsyne.
5
But since that nothing can prevail,
And all hope now is vain,
From these rejected eyes of mine,
Still showers of tears shall reighn:
And though thou hast me now forgot,
Yet I'll continue thine,
And though thou hast me now forgot,
On auld langsyne.
6
If ever I have a house my dear,
That's trule called mine,
And can afford but country cheer,
Or aught that's good therein:
Tho' thou were rebel to the King,
And beat the wind and rain,
Thou'rt sure thyself of welcome, love,
For auld langsyne.
From Bruce Olson's Scarce Songs 2; Watson, "A Choice Collection of Comic and Serious Scots Poems, III, p. 71, 1711, with 4 added verses. Copied from Motherwell, "The Paisley Magazine," p. 377, 1828, from early broadside and in Watson.
B. Olson note: "This seems to have been supplanted by a song in Allan Ramsay's "Scots Songs," 1720. It is this song that appears later as "Auld Lang Syne". It is with the tune and called 'Auld Lang Syne' in both editions of 'Orpheus'."
Bruce O, in an earlier post to this thread, mentions this song. This seems to be the best thread in which to post the lyrics.
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