ANNIE LAURIE

ANNIE LAURIE
Lady John Scott

Maxwelton braes are bonnie
Where early fa’s the dew
And ‘twas there that Annie Laurie,
Gave me her promise true,
Gave me her promise true;
Which ne’er gorgot will be,
And for bonnie Annie Laurie
I lay me doon and dee,

Her brow is like the snowdrift,
Her throat is like a swan,
Her face it is the fairest;
That e’er the sun shone on;
That e’er the sun shone on,
And dark blue is her ee,
And for bonnie Annie Laurie
I lay me doon and dee.

Like dew on th’ gowan lying
Is th’ fa’ o’ her fairy feet,
And like winds in summer sighing
Her voice is low and sweet,
Her voice is low and sweet,
And she’s a’ the world to me,
And for bonnie Annie Laurie,
I lay me doon and dee.

Footnote: Another song I first learned at primary school and it has remained a favourite sinsyne. Alicia Anne Spottiswoode, afterwards Lady John Scott, took an old song and reworked both the words and tune around 1834 or 1835. She altered the second verse and added a third. It was published along with some other works of her own, for the benefit of widows and orphans of soldiers killed in the Crimean War (1854-1855). Next week we will look at the original words of the song and the love affair on which it was based.