live video clips:

The banks o’ Doon (Ye banks and braes o’ bonie Doon) words by: Robert Burns

tune: traditional

Ye banks and braes o' bonie Doon,
How can ye bloom sae fresh and fair?
How can ye chant, ye little birds,
And I sae weary fu' o' care!
Thou'll break my heart, thou warbling bird,
That wantons thro' the flowering thorn!
Thou minds me o' departed joys,
Departed never to return.

Aft hae I rov'd by bonie Doon
To see the rose and woodbine twine,
And ilka bird sang o' its luve,
And fondly sae did I o' mine.
Wi' lightsome heart I pu'd a rose,
Fu' sweet upon its thorny tree!
And my fause luver staw my rose --
But ah! he left the thorn wi' me.

This is one of Robert Burns' most well known songs.

This is not an official analysis, in depth essay or suchlike. It’s purely a guideline to maybe getting more out of the song ‘The banks o’ Doon’ otherwise known as ‘Ye banks and braes’.

What I'm trying to get across is not so much a word for word translation, but more the essence of how the words feel, a few ideas about the imagery used and how the song 'sings' in the dialect in which it is written.

lines 1 to 4 verse 1:

Ye banks and braes o' bonie Doon, ‘bonie Doon’ = ‘beautiful river of Doon’
How can ye bloom sae fresh and fair?
How can ye chant, ye little birds,
And I sae weary fu' o' care! ‘And I sae’ = and I so (sounds like ‘sae’ and the ‘ai’ in fair)

‘fu’ o’ care!’ = full of care

'fu' sounds: foo (like 'oo' in 'boo') 'o' sounds oa (like 'oa' in 'boat'). 'care' translates as: 'the things that are weighing me down'

The woman in the story is pleading with and questioning nature itself:

'You river banks and braes (sides) how can you display such beauty? How can you birds keep on singing your song when I am so weary?’

In other words: How could you do this to me? How can you continue on as if nothing is wrong? Don't you know how I feel? Your bird song sounds like a mocking chant my ears now.'

Note: ‘Chant’ really just means 'sing' - but the use of 'chant' suggest a 'mocking' or 'taunting' quality as if the birds are deliberately trying to wind her up!

Wordily put 'and I sae weary fu' o' care'' suggests: 'even when you know I am so weary, you (nature) would still continue to do this to me!'

Note: the repetition of 'how' emphasising her pleading despair and the repeated use of the 'oo' vowel sound: 'Doon' 'bloom' 'fu' giving the song a tragic feel.

Note: the line: 'fu' o' care' i.e. 'full of care' Imagine if Burns had written 'full of care'. Wouldn't the consonants just get in the way? ''fu' o'' in Scots sounds much more 'heavy laden' without those consonants. 'fu' o'' 'leans on' the notes of the melody and the continuing vowel ‘foooa’ from a singing point of view can help make the ‘cry for help or understanding’ more effective.

Same applies to: 'hae' = have 'pu'd' = pulled 'staw' = stole 'wi'' = with

Thou'll break my heart, thou warbling bird,
That wantons thro' the flowering thorn!

lines 5 & 6 verse 1:

'You will break my heart, you singing bird that flies through the flowering thorn!'

Note the alliteration of the 'th' sound, again a 'heavily laden' sound. Note the exclamation mark, suggesting exasperation.

These two lines can be interpreted in different ways at the same time. 'Works at several levels' as the saying goes:

The 'bird' is now singular i.e. things are getting a bit more personal and one to one.

1. The bird can fly through (life) without a care in the world and later that will remind her of how she used to be i.e. unaware of (or disregarding) the danger lurking beneath what appears to be safe and beautiful. 'flowering thorn!'

2. It could be a first reference to the man who (as we will find out later) will break her heart. He 'wantons' through (with abandonment and as a sexual predator) taking advantage of innocence without a care for the consequences and who he will hurt along the way.

'Departed never to return.' Things don't get much bleaker than that! She feels helpless. Again, the repetition of 'departed' This word can be sung as ‘deperted’ : the same vowel sounds as in ‘never’

But remember! We have to think of the song in 'real time' as if hearing the words for the first time i.e. WE DON'T KNOW THE ENDING!

At this point we don't know what is weighing her down! It's only when we reach the end of the song we realise what is referred to earlier in the poem.

Thou minds me o' departed joys, 'thou minds me o' = you remind me of
Departed never to return.

lines 7 & 8 verse 1:

lines 1 to 4 verse 2:

Her reflection on the past and happier times:

In essence: 'I've often wandered by the banks of this river and I have seen the beauty of nature at peace with itself, in harmony with itself and I was at peace with nature and the world as well. The birds sang of their love (for their mate) and I did too.'

A reference can be made to ‘the rose and woodbine twine’ If we take the rose as being ‘the man’ (thorny rose bush) and the ‘woodbine’ (a thornless sweet scented plant/shrub) as being ‘her’ then we have the image of the two intertwined in an embrace and at one with nature.

Note: repetition of 'and' moving the story on and lighter, more open vowel sounds: 'woodbine twine' (little internal rhyme) 'ilka' 'sang' 'fondly' .. much more ‘open’ sounds.

until ...

Aft hae I rov'd by bonie Doon                         'aft hae' = often have
To see the rose and woodbine** twine,   ** (see footnote)
And ilka bird sang o' its luve,                          'ilka' = every/each      'luve' = pronounced as love
And fondly sae did I o' mine.                            'sae did I' = so did I

Wi' lightsome heart I pu'd a rose,

I light heartedly (and innocently?) picked a rose (the man)

Fu' sweet upon its... (who seemed so sweet ... and then ..

a sudden change of mood.

'thorny tree!'

In essence: 'I didn't see it coming.' The exclamation mark highlights that she is kind of being sarcastic with herself i.e. 'How did I fall for it? Why didn't I see through the gloss to the rottenness and dangerous thorns beneath?' She's chastising herself for her stupidity.

and then a declaration, a cold statement....

Wi' lightsome heart I pu'd a rose, ‘lightsome’ can be pronounced ‘lichtsum’ ‘I’ as in ‘it’ The ‘ch’ as in the

Scottish ‘ch’ in loch. ‘heart’ pronounced ‘hert’
Fu' sweet upon its thorny tree!

Note:if ‘lightsome’ is pronounced as suggested above, it helps reiterate her frustration with herself (a bit like the Scottish ‘och!’)

lines 5 & 6 verse 2:

And my false lover stole my rose (virginity). But ah! (huh!) he left the thorn with me (pregnancy).

Make no mistake. This is an angry, bitter statement.

lines 7 & 8 verse 2:

And my fause luver staw my rose -- 'fause luver' = false lover 'staw' = stole
'fause' and 'staw' are the same vowel sound 'o' as in 'bought' (so, again

an internal rhyme)

But ah! he left the thorn wi' me.

So, in comparison to the bird flying through the 'flowering thorn' and coming out the other end unscathed (lines 5-8 in verse 1) ... she doesn't!

We are left with an overall feeling of: 'I was so happy ..but now I realise how foolish I've been. I was taken in and used! I trusted in something that proved to be ‘false' (just as I trusted in nature and all its beauty)

And my fause luver staw my rose --
But ah! he left the thorn wi' me.

'Staw' 'stole' suggests that she feels violated.

The word 'and' continuing on from line 6 is significant. It reaffirms that 'its thorny tree’ and my ‘fause luver’ are one and the same i.e.

... its thorny tree! And my false luver ...

'And' also starts the beginning of four lines of the poem/song, suggesting that the 'theft' of her virginity is just a continuation of what she now perceives to be the truth.... that everything around her is not as it seems! The birds and nature below their external beauty don't really care and empathise with her predicament, and never have done! And now added to that: an extension that the man whom she thought loved her has got what he wanted and left. The man's deception is simply another nail in the world's coffin. Now, everything around her in her eyes has been one big lie and innocence and trust (and her virginity) have ...

'departed never to return.'

Ye banks and braes can sometimes come over as a song of sadness and melancholy rather than a song of bitterness resulting from her circumstances ....which in my view, it most definitely is. Their is sadness... yes .. but more than just a dash of bitterness in there as well!

Jean Nicolson

** An interesting observation contributed by Jimmy McGee. Woodbine is another name for Honeysuckle. Click here for more and scroll down to ‘folklore’. Thanks Jimmy!

In too deep ...

Here goes ...

... she can no longer find joy walking by the banks of the river Doon. Everything in nature the woman loved now haunts her, reminding her only of happier times, gone forever.

‘Jean can't half go on...' (Borealis 2008)

Click here for an analysis/guide to ‘Ae fond kiss’

You can purchase an arrangement of

‘Ye banks and braes’ for voice and piano by

Jean Nicolson ...

click here...

Click here for an analysis/guide to

‘My love is like a red, red rose’

Home page

The banks o’ Doon

melody and words pdf.