025 Charlie, He's My Darling

Tune: Charlie, He's My Darling

Chorus

An' Charlie he's my darling,

My darling, my darling,

Charlie he's my darling—

The Young Chevalier!

1.

'Twas on a Monday morning

Right early in the year,

That Charlie came to our town—

The Young Chevalier!

2.

As he was walking up the street

The city for to view,

O, there he spied a bonie lass

The window looking thro'!

3.

Sae light's he jimped up the stair,

And tirl'd at the pin;

And wha sae ready as hersel'

To let the laddie in!

4.

He set his Jenny on his knee,

All in his Highland dress;

For brawlie weel he kend the way

To please a bonie lass.

5.

It's up yon heathery mountain

And down yon scroggy glen,

We daurna gang a-milking

For Charlie and his men!

Notes

Title Charlie He's My Darling: Charlie Is My Darling

Burns made use of an old street song of the mid-1770s and wrote it to express a Jacobite theme. The young man in the poem is said to be Charles Edward Stewart. This song was first printed in December, 1796.

Chorus

Line 1 An': and

Line 4 Chevalier: knight

Stanza 1

Line 1 'Twas: it was

Stanza 2

Line 3 bonie: lovely; lass: maiden

Line 4 thro': through

Stanza 3

Line 1 Sae: so; jimped: jumped

Line 2 tirl'd: knocked, turned (the door pin); pin: latch

Line 3 wha: who; hersel': herself

Line 4 laddie: lad, young man

Stanza 4

Line 3 brawlie weel: very well; kend: knew

Stanza 5

Line 1 yon: over there

Line 2 scroggy glen: scrubby vale

Line 3 daurna: dare not