Rantin Rovin Robin – Robert Burns (1759-1796) It is thought that Burns may have written this as a celebration of his 28th birthday (Jan. 25, 1787). Sung by Andy Stewart. SheetMusic(pdf)
There was a lad was born in Kyle,
But whatn'a day, o' whatn'a style
Indeed it's hardly worth the while
To be so nice to Robin
Robin was a rovin' boy,
Rantin' rovin' rantin' rovin',
Robin was a rovin' boy,
Rantin' rovin' Robin.
Our Monarch's hindmost year but one,
Was five and twenty days begun'
'Twas then a blast o' January wind
Blew hansel in on Robin. hansel=birth gift
The gossip keekit in his loof, keekit=peered loof=face
Quo' she,"Wha' lives shall see the proof,
This waly boy will be nae fool; waly=sturdy
I think we'll call him Robin".
He'll have misfortunes great and small
But aye a heart above them all
He'll be a credit tae us all;
We'll a' be proud o' Robin.
But sure as three times three makes nine,
I see by every score and line,
This chap will dearly like our kind
So blessings on thee, Robin.
Notes: Andy Stewart writes this about Rantin' Rovin' Robin: This song commemorates an incident which occurred when Robert Burns was only a few days old: "Our monarch's hindmost year but ane/ Was five and twenty days begun / Twas then a blast o' Janwar win' / Blew hansel in on Robin." The incident is best described in a letter by Gilbert Burns (Robert's brother), first printed in "Dr. Currie's Edition of 1803." "When my father built his clay biggin', he put in two stone jambs, as they are called, and a lintel, carrying up the chimney in his clay-gable. The consequence was that as the gable subsided, the jambs remaining firm threw it off its center; and one very stormy morning when my brother was nine or ten days old, a little before daylight, a part of the gable fell out and the rest appeared so shattered that my mother, with the young poet, had to be carried through the storm to a neighbor's house, where they remained a week till their own dwelling was adjusted." (From the third edition of "The Burns Encyclopedia" by Maurice Lindsay, 1980, St. Martin's Press, Inc. New York)