Burns Love Life

 

Margaret Chambers

Burns love life is highly complex and complicated!  He wrote some of the most famous love songs ever written. He loved often. His first famous poem, written when Burns was sixteen was Westlin Winds for Peggy. 

As a teenager he fell in love often, after reading a book of French love letters given to him by mistake by his tutor John Murdoch! Burns’s first child, Elizabeth Burns was born to his mother’s servant Elizabeth Paton. 

There was the Mauchline Belles! Many years later when he was twenty two, Burns moved to Mossgiel farm near Mauchline in 1782, where he met his bonny Jean. She was a great singer and knew all the auld Scots ballads like his mother. 

At this time he also met his Highland Mary: after Jean suddenly left for Paisley. He pledged his love for her over a bible and later wrote the poems Highland Mary and To Mary in Heaven to her. Also – “Will ye go to the Indies, my Mary, And leave auld Scotia’s shore?” However Mary suddenly died in Greenock from Typhus, she had contracted from her uncle. Burns was devastated.  Machine was a crossroads town, with many travellers and walks fo life. 

Burns also greatly enjoyed educated, cultured women he met on his travels, who he felt a kinship with. First he met Margaret Chambers in Edina, a farmers daughter who was his equal in education and conversation. 

January 1787, Burns wrote to her, Dear Dr. Countrywoman. I know you will laugh at it, when I tell you that your playing and you together have played the deuce somehow, about my heart. I could sit down and cry like a child……’Personal attractions, Madam, you have much above par, Wit and understanding & worth, you possess in the first class. ‘   

 

Burns spent two more winters in Edina in 1787 and 88, and late in 1788 he met the elegant culture Agnes McLahose, his Nancy who was also well educated and a poet too.  He walked under Clarinda/ Nancy’s window. ‘tis the star that guards. My queen of poetesses empress of the poets soul. I gave her two wineglasses with the toast. ‘Long may we love, and long may we be happy.’ 

Clarinda needed the support of her uncle for her annuity. They wrote over 300 letters correspondence to each other from 1788 to 1791 – when he wrote his great song of parting for her Ae Fond Kiss. Clarinda was to leave and told Burns that he must go back to Jean, that there was not likely any future. Burns heart was broken. 

She left for the West indies.

After his Scotia travels (1786-1788) and his time in Edina having his poems published, Burns returned to Ayrshire and married Jean Armour in April 1788, when they moved to the Ellisland farm. They had three surviving sons. He wrote the poem I Love my Jean for her.  Also in 1791, Elizabeth Burns was born to Anna Park, a barmaid at the Globe Inn in 1791. Jean took her in and looked after her. 

Because of his education Burns straddled all walks of life, from the poor he met in Mauchline to the great and good of the Edina’s literati, the academics and the enlightenment writers.  

*In 1791 he was inspired to write one of the greatest love songs ever written, Red Red Rose.

O my Luve is like a red, red rose

That’s newly sprung in June;

O my Luve is like the melody

That’s sweetly played in tune.

 

So fair art thou, my bonnie lass,

So deep in luve am I;

And I will luve thee still, my dear,

Till a’ the seas gang dry.

 

Till a’ the seas gang dry, my dear,

And the rocks melt wi’ the sun;

I will love thee still, my dear,

While the sands o’ life shall run.

 

And fare thee weel, my only luve!

And fare thee weel awhile!

And I will come again, my luve,

Though it were ten thousand mile.

 His stay in the Edina resulted in lifelong friendships - with Lord Glencairn and Francis Dunlop (1730-1815) 

who became a mentor and sponsor and with whom he corresponded. 

*      *      *      *      

Farwell to Clarinda, the mistress of my soul,

The measured time is run

The wretch beneath the dreary pole

So marks his latest sun.

*      *      *      *      *

 

My Peggy’s face, my Peggy’s form,

The frost of hermitage might warm,

My Peggy’s worth, My Peggy’s mind,

Might charm the first of human kind,

I love my Peggy’s angel air,

Her face so truly heavenly fair,

Her nature grace so void of air,

And I do love my Peggy’s heart.   RB

 (Published 1802)

 

A Letter from Mrs Dunlop - She feared I might loose being this ‘rustic bard’ in Edina. She wrote such high praise, and told me, I was the best bard ever to have adorned my country. 

I wrote to her, ‘I have long studied myself and I think I know pretty exactly what ground I occupy, both as a man and a poet….Poets are such outré beings, so much the children of wayward Fancy and capricious Whim, that I believe the word generally allows them a larger latitude in the rules of Propriety, than the sober sons of Judgement and Prudence. ‘ 

 

I Love My Jean

Of a' the airts the wind can blaw,

I dearly like the West;

For there the bony Lassie lives,

The Lassie I lo'e best:

There's wild-woods grow,

and rivers row,

And mony a hill between;

But day and night my fancy's flight

Is ever wi' my Jean.

 

I see her in the dewy flowers,

I see her sweet and fair;

I hear her in the tunefu' birds,

I hear her charm the air:

There's not a bony flower that springs

By fountain, shaw, or green;

There's not a bony bird that sings

But minds me o' my Jean.

RB

 

 

Dick Gaughan Life on the Edge, Voice of Deep Humanity

Gaughan is a voice of deep humanity in our present dark world. 

Gaughan brought many of the traditional Irish and Scots Celtic songs to new life. I’d never heard Robert Burns Westlin Winds before Gaugan introduced this as one of the best songs ever written. He searched through the Scottish national archives for the best traditional ballads. Like Burns and Dylan before him Gaughan has been a genius song collector and remaker of the old songs. He drew on his Scots and Irish traditions to develop his song craft and performance. 

 

I first heard Dick Gaughan in the 70s at the Police folk club Edinburgh. A musician friend raved about how incredible and distinctive his guitar playing was. Many years later (after being in America for nearly ten years) I heard Gaughan again at Milngavie Folk club in 2007. This was an intimate gig where his chat and stories between songs while he tuned his guitar, was worth going for alone. In his own genuine voice, Gaughan hammers and speaks with his acoustic guitar.

 

He is an interpreter of Scotland’s traditional folk ballads. Gaughan has become a legend on the Scottish and world folk circuits for more than 40 years. 

Gaughan is Scots/ Irish and has spent his life in Leith Edinburgh. He’s a social protester, a profound storyteller who crosses boundaries, forges alliances through the depth of his story telling, and song and open chord’ dramatic guitar playing. His songs don’t flow easily to the shore – and they also share the full range of emotions. 

Its about the emotion of the song and the storytelling. Gaughan drew on his Scots and Irish traditions to develop his song craft and performance. He draws from both Irish and Scottish folk traditions. He performs traditional folk tunes, Robert Burns, favourite cover songs and his own songs. He doesn't play the predictable smoothed-over sugar box 'tartan shortbread' songs.

So glad to hope the younger generations are carrying the stream. (More so in Ireland perhaps?). I have to admit the most emotional Celtic concert I’ve been to. So many memories….You come away from his gigs questioning and renewed in the faith of our shared humanity.  

**SONGS – Erin Go Bragh, Workers Song, The Snows they Melt the Soonest, No Gods, Wages Day, Language of the Gaels, Song for Ireland, Westlin winds, Daughters and Sons, Craigie Hill, What you do with what you’ve got,  Both Sides the Tweed.

Gaughan is plain spoken and holds firmly held beliefs on the rights of everyman. Gaughan had a stroke in 2016, which means he can no longer play the guitar. He’s not been able to play for nearly ten years. Gaughan’s album Handful of Earth became an iconic folk album. 

·       (R/evolution: 1969–83) was released in January 2026 along with 

·       Live at the BBC: 1972–79 (vinyl).  

* The concert was recorded by BBC Radio Scotland. (Celtic concerts used to be recorded by the BBC Scotland tv.)

 

GUITAR  Earthy, real and powerful guitar playing, an incredible presence and depth. Gaughan says his guitars is an integral part of his singing. The Song has a tempo all of its own. The guitar has to follow the song. His distinctive style of guitar playing, with open chords and dramatic  timing that he learnt from guitarist Davey Graham which was tuned differently. 

SONG COLLECTOR - He took past folk stories and songs from the library archives and put new melodies to them. 

POLITICS  Gaughan is plain spoken and holds firmly held beliefs on the rights of everyman

BANDS - He played with Aly Bain’s Boys of the Lough and a punk band called Five Hand Reel.

 

Clan Alba, A folk supergroup, featured Dick Gaughan. Mary Macmaster, Brian MacNeill, Fred Morrison, Patsy  distinctive collective harmonies. Their 1996 debut album - included ‘Bye Bye Big Blue’, a lament for the closure of the Ravenscraig Steel Works, and Gaughan’s evocative ‘Childhood’s End’.

 

SONGS    Niel Gow  Craigie Hill  who had sung with Dick in ‘Clan Alba’,  the folk songcraft and voice tradition of the folk songcraft and voice tradition 

 

Songs of social conscience and an evening of contrast, quality and sincerity.You come away from his gigs questioning and renewed in the faith of our shared humanity. Gaughan has become a legend on the Scottish and world folk circuits for more than 40 years. He is an interpreter of Scotland’s traditional folk ballads. 

 

Dick Gaughan is a towering figure in folk music circles, a musician whose radical politics have always been to the fore. I did many benefit gigs with him in the 80s and was inspired to record 'The World Turned Upside Down' after hearing his version on the magnificent 'Handful of Earth' LP.

Sadly his career has suffered two major setbacks. Firstly, much of his material was issued on small labels which no longer exist, meaning it's not available physically or via streaming services. Secondly, he has been unable to perform since 2016 due to the effects of a stroke he suffered.

A group of friends and comrades have come together to address these issues by compiling and releasing a seven CD and DVD boxed set from which Dick will benefit directly once the costs have been covered. To this end they have set up a Kickstarter page to raise funds for the project. 

Dick Gaughan's entire career has been about showing solidarity for people in need. Let's show some solidarity for him now and get this project funded and flying.

 

Awww the Dick Gaughan tribute concert was amazing!! So emotional, so many folk icons from Scotland, England and Ireland. Plus all those Black and white images of the 70s folk scene in Edinburgh. The Irish artist Seamie O’Dowd who performed Song for Ireland was so good, one of those hushed silence moments... And Dick Gaughan was actually there at the end and sang a bit. He’s the most iconic folk artist, song collector and awesome guitarist of the past century. The most emotional Celtic Connections concert I’ve been to (over the past twenty years)….

 

 A voice of deep humanity in our present dark world. I first heard Dick back at an Edinburgh folk club in the 70s! My son has seen Dick live several times and was also moved to tears at the tribute concert. He plays guitar and Westlin Winds was always a favourite to play ....I hope the younger generations are carrying the traditions. I have photos from the concert will post.

The Solid Oak Tree True and Bold: It’s the song that Matters

 Earthy and grounded on sure solid roots,

I will follow your lead where it takes me,

Sure footed and solid and deep where it matters, 

Your hearts true and open and bold.

You search where it matters staying honest and true,

When so much around us is fake falsehoods and cruel, 

Dishonesty and ignorance that ignore what really counts,

Make your voice a beacon of light and hope.

As your strength of character pounds out the rhythms

And angst on your guitar,

You stand true and bold in a world that’s lost its way,

You are like the solid oak tree.

 You sang of the bonny yew tree,

Tell me what do you see.

“When the poor hunt the poor across mountain and moor
The rich man can keep them in chains

“So I raise up my glass and drink deep of its flame

To those who have gone who were links in the chain
And I give my soul's promise, I give my heart's pledge
To outlaws and dreamers and life at the edge.”

Don’t let go of the harness

That keeps us together,

As you search for truth in the auld ballads and songs,

Stay true,

It’s the song that matters.

PK