O,
RATTLIN', ROARIN' WILLIE
Traditional / Robert Burns
O, rattlin', roarin' Willie,
O, he held to the fair,
An' for to sell his fiddle
An' buy some other ware;
But parting wi' his fiddle,
The saut tear blin't his e'e,
And, rattlin', roarin' Willie,
Ye're welcome hame to me.
"O, Willie, come sell your fiddle,
O, sell your fiddle sae fine;
O Willie, come sell your fiddle
And
buy a pint o' wine!"
"If I should sell my fiddle,
The warl' would think I was mad;
For many a rantin' day
My fiddle and I hae had.
As I cam by Crochallan,
I cannily keekit ben,
Rattlin', roarin' Willie
Was sitting at yon boord-en';
Sitting
at yon boord-en'
And amang guid companie;
Rattlin', roarin' Willie,
Ye're welcome hame to me.
Footnote - Robert Burns added a third verse
to this traditional song as a compliment to William Dunbar,
"one of the worthiest fellows in the world". William Dunbar
was presiding officer, "Colonel" of the Crochallan Fencibles,
an Edinburgh club of wits of which Burns was a leading member.
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