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O lassie are ye sleepin yet,
Or are ye waukin, I wad wit,
For loove has bound me hand and fitt,
And I wad fain be in jo.
O let me in this ae night,
This ae, ae, ae night;
O let me in this ae night,
And I'll no come back again, jo.

The morn it is the term-day,
I maun awa, I canna stay,
O pity me before I gae,
And rise and let me in, jo.
O let me in, &c.

The night it is baith cauld and weet,
The morn it will be snaw and sleet,
My shoon are frozen to my feet
In standing here my lane, jo.
O let me in, &c.

I am the laird o' Windy-wa's,
I cam na here without a cause,
And I hae gotten mony fa's
In comin thro' the plain, jo.
O let me in, &c.

"My father's walking in the street,
My mither the chamber keys does keep.
My chamber-door does chirp and cheep,
I daur na let you in, jo.
O gae your ways this ae night,
This ae, ae, ae night;
O gae your ways this ae night,
For I daur na let you in, jo."

But I'll come stealing saftly in,
And cannily mak little din;
My fittstep-tread there's nane can ken
For the sughin wind and rain, jo.
O let me in, &c.

"Cast up the door unto the weet,
Cast aff your shoon frae aff your feet;
Syne to my chamber ye may creep,
But ye maunna do't gain, jo."
O leeze me on this ae night,
This ae, ae, ae night;
The joys we've had this ae night,
Your chamber was within, jo!

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Source: Johnson, The Scots Musical Museum, vol.IV p.320, 1792.

Notes:
The song appeared a few years earlier in David Herd's The Ancient and Modern Scots Songs (vol.II, 1776). The text in Herd's MS collection is more frank than that given above:

Verse 4.

I am the laird o' windy-was,
I cam na here without a cause,
And I hae gotten mony fa's
Upon a naked wame o!
O let me in, &c.

Verse 6.

But I'll come stealing saftly in
And cannily mak little dinn,
And then the gate to you I'll find,
If you'l but direct me in, jo!
O let me in, &c.

Followed by:

Cast aff your shoen frae aff your feet,
Cast back the door up to the weet,
Syne into my bed you may creep,
And do the thing you ken, jo.
O well's on me this ae night,
This ae, ae, ae night;
O well's on me this ae night,
That e'er I let you in, jo!

She let him in sae cannily,
She let him in sae privily,
She let him in sae cannily,
To do the thing ye ken, jo.
O well's on me, &c.

But ere a' was done and a' was said,
Out fell the bottom of the bed,
The lassie lost her maidenhead,
And her mither heard the din, jo.
O the devil take this ae night,
This ae, ae, ae night;
O the devil take this ae night,
That e'er I let you in, jo!

-Quoted from James Barke and Sydney Goodsir Smith (eds.), The Merry Muses of Caledonia, W.H. Allen (Panther) 1966.

Burns wrote a romantic dialogue-song of the same name based on it. The song has been found in tradition under a number of names; Jeannie Robertson sang it as The Laird o' Windy Wa's. In England it is usually known as Cold Haily Rainy Night (or variations thereon) and was issued on broadsides under that title. See Bodleian Library Broadside Ballads:

Cold haily rainy night Two editions, printed between 1819 and 1844 by J. Pitts, Toy and Marble Warehouse, 6 Great St. Andrew street 7 Dials [London]. Harding B 16(54a)

Roud: 135 (Search Roud index at VWML)
Laws:
Child:



Related Songs:  Cold, Haily, Windy Night (thematic)

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