Here are some fun facts and figures which inspired my sing-along dance-along approach to this beautiful masterpiece of language and eloquence. Sang as I felt it - Green Grow The Rashes O.
1959:] [Robert] Burns knew "the merry old tune", 'Green Grow the Rashes O', as a bawdy song that has been long current in Scotland. When Jean Armour delivered a set of twins from her first pregnancy [on September 3rd, 1786], Burns, in an excess of pride and happiness, sent a bawdy version of his own to a friend [John Richmond] to signalize the event. [...] Earlier, Burns had written the masterpiece known to all the world, one of the two songs contributed to the first volume of "The Scots Musical Museum". (Notes Ewan MacColl, 'Songs of Robert Burns')
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[1965:] Here is one of Burns' best-known songs, a rousing earthy appreciation for the lasses so typical of the great poet. The song had existed in Scottish tradition for many years as a drinking song and a bawdy song until Burns penned the present version. (Reprint Sing Out 8, 108)
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[1986:] Another poem that [Burns] wrote in his Commonplace Book before the collapse of his health in April 1784 was portentous. ['Green Grow the Rashes O'] is an early example of Burns' skill in emending or rewriting an old folk-song; sometimes, as in this case, making a bawdy one respectable. A year or so later he sent three verses of the indecent version to his friend John Richmond. (Grimble, Robert Burns 41)
There had been surprisingly few songs in the earlier edition [of Burns' poems]. Of the seven he now added, by far the most interesting is 'Green Grow the Rashes O', not only for its intrinsic beauty but because it is an early sample of Burns' gift for reworking fragments of folk-verse and marrying them to traditional airs. Here he has improved upon earlier, bawdy versions, as bowdlerizers so often fail to do, and set them to a dance tune which had been written in an incipient form early in the 17th century. (Grimble, Robert Burns 76)
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[1988:] This song has a long and varied history. The tune has been a popular one since the early part of the seventeenth century (Straloch MS, 1627). In addition to the traditional bawdy verses included in the 'Merry Muses of Caledonia' , Burns collected or wrote at least two more in this genre. In this album, Jean Redpath sings the lyrics that Burns wrote in his early twenties. During that period, he kept a notebook of his thoughts and poetry, known as 'The First Commonplace Book'. In connection with 'Green Grow The Rashes O', Burns commented:
"I do not see that the turn of mind, and pursuits of such a one as the above verses describe - one who spends the hours and thoughts which the vocations of the day can spare with Ossian, Shakespeare, Thomson, Shenstone, Sterne, & c. or as the maggot takes him, a gun, a fiddle, or a Song to make, or mend: and at all times some heartsdear bony lass in view - I say I do not see that the turn of mind & pursuits of such a one are in the least more inimical to the sacred interests of Piety & Virtue, than the, even lawful, bustling, & straining after the world's riches & honors: and I do not see but he may gain Heaven as well ..." (Esther Hovey, notes Jean Redpath, 'The Songs of Robert Burns, vol. 3')
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[1989:] "Founded on an old and licentious song with the same chorus." "This is one of the most characteristic of all Burns' songs, although one of his earliest. In August, 1784, he sets it down in his Common-place Book [...] with some rambling remarks on 'the various species of young men' whom he divides into two classes - 'the grave and the merry'. The last stanza is not included in the copy inserted in the poet's first Commonplace Book, therefore, the presumption is that he added it while in Edinburgh. He seems to have borrowed the conceit from an ancient source." (Notes Andy M. Stewart, 'Songs of Robert Burns')
lyrics
Green grow the rashes, O
Words & Music by Robert Burns
Arrangement by Mike Ogletree
Green grow the rashes, O;
Green grow the rashes, O;
Green grow the rashes, O;
Green grow the rashes, O;
There's nought but care on ev'ry han',
In ev'ry hour that passes, O;
What signifies the life o' man,
An' 'twere na for the lasses, O.
The warly race may riches chase,
An' riches still may fly them, O;
An' tho' at last they catch them fast,
Their hearts can ne'er enjoy them, O.
Green grow the rashes, O;
Green grow the rashes, O;
The sweetest hours that e'er I spend,
Are spent amang the lasses, O.
But gie me a canny hour at e'en,
My arms about my Dearie, O;
An' warly cares an' warly men,
May a' gae tapsalteerie, O!
For you sae douse, ye sneer at this,
Ye're nought but senseless asses, O;
The wisest Man the warl' saw,
He dearly lov'd the lasses, O.
Green grow the rashes, O;
Green grow the rashes, O;
The sweetest hours that e'er I spend,
Are spent amang the lasses, O.
Auld Nature swears, the lovely Dears
Her noblest work she classes, O;
Her prentice han' she try'd on man,
An' then she made the lasses, O.
Green grow the rashes, O;
Green grow the rashes, O;
The sweetest hours that e'er I spend,
Are spent amang the lasses, O.
(Rpt)
The Blaxcotsman aka Mike Ogletree has been around, from drumming duties with 80's Scottish music legends Simple Minds and
Fiction Factory to session work in Italy, then working as a sound engineer in L.A. In New York he created Anacoustic Mind, an exciting mixture of his Afro/Scottish soul and the pulsating energy of the planet's most culturally rich city....more
Slack falsetto melodies, lush dub arrangements, and feel-good lyrics come together for a memorable pop-reggae getaway. Bandcamp New & Notable Sep 14, 2022
