Heiland Harry

Robert Burns

My Harry was a gallant blade
Fou dainty straid he on the plain
Noo he’s banished far awa’
And oh he’ll no’ come back again

Oh for him back again
Oh for him back again
I wud gi’ a’ Knockhaspie’s land
For Heiland Harry back again

When a’ the lave are in their bed
I wander dowie up the glen
Sat me Down and gret ma fill
For Heiland Harry back again

Oh for him back again
Oh for him back again
I wud gi’ a’ Knockhaspie’s land
For Heiland Harry back again

Oh were some villains hingit high
And every body had his ain
I would hear the joyful sound
Heiland Harry’s back again

Oh for him back again
Oh for him back again
I wud gi’ a’ Knockhaspie’s land
For Heiland Harry back again

The original title given by Burns is My Harry was a Gallant Gay. Burns reportedly picked up the chorus from an old woman in Dunblane, and then completed the verses. Heiland Harry was a Harry Lunsdale, who was intimate with a daughter of the Laird of Knockhaspie (or Knockespock) in Aberdeenshire. The tune was published 1761-3 in Edinburgh by Neil Stewart in his Collection of the Newest and Best Reels or Country Dances.

lave = others
dowie = despondent