The Scottish songs - National Library of Scotland

529
My time is come ;
And frae your company reca :
I maun demit,
I hope ye're a' my friends as yet
Gude nicht, and joy be wi' you a'
I've spent some time, I maun confess,
In your sweet civil companie ;
For ony oiFence that I hae dune,
I needs that I forgi'en may be»
What I hae dune for lack o' wit)
I never never can reca'
I hope ye're a' my friends as yet
Gude nicht, and joy be wi' you a'. *
FOR THE SAKE OF SOMEBODY,
[old verses.]
Tune—Somebody.
For the sake of somebody,
For the sake of somebody,
I could wake f a winter nicht,
For the sake of somebody.
* The first four and the last four lines of this composition were found by
Burns as a fragment, and were by him very much and very justly admired,
as giving the hint of some disastrous tale. They were published in
the Border Minstrelsy, under the title of " Armstrong's Goodnight," with
a note, quoting a tradition, by which they were said to have been composed
by one of that celebrated predatory clan, executed for the murder of
Sir John Carmichael of Edrom, warder of the middle marches, in the year
1600. Mr Buchan of Peterhead has latterly printed, in his " Ancient
Ballads and Songs of the North of Scotland," these esteemed lines, in company
with twice as many, which, he thinks, may be supposed to complete
the song, though they are in an inferior style of poetry and feeling. By a
selection from Mr Buchan's additional matter, and a collation of the whole
with the copies published in Johnson's Musical Museum, and the Border
Minstrelsy, the present editor has endeavoured to make up a song of the
ordinary length.
The air is very popular, and has been adopted by more than one modern
poet, as a vehicle for verses.
t Watch.
2 Y
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