[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
>
> Here it is, friends, in its entirety, as transcribed (carefully, with
> proofreading by a loving husband) from Burn's letter of September 1793 to
> George Thomson:
>
> Auld lang syne -----
>
> Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
> And never brought to mind?
> Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
> And days o' lang syne?
> Chorus
> For auld lang syne, my Dear,
> For auld lang syne,
> We'll tak a cup o' kindness yet,
> For auld lang syne -----
>
> We twa hae run about the braes,
> And pu't the gowans fine;
> But we've wander'd mony a weary foot
> Sin auld lang syne -----
>
> For auld lang &c.-----
>
> We twa hae paidlet i' the burn,
> Frae mornin' sun till dine:
> But seas between us braid hae roar'd,
> Sin auld lang syne.----
>
> For auld &c.--------
>
> And there's a hand, my trusty feire,
> And gie's a hand o' thine,
> And we'll tak a right gude-willie waught,
> For auld land syne ----
>
> For auld &c. ----
>
> And surely ye'll be your pint-stowp,
> And surely I'll be mine;
> And we'll tak a cup o' kindness yet,
> For auld lang syne. ---
>
> For auld &c. -----
>
> Notes: The "to" in the second line is added after the fact with a carat, in
> Burns' hand. The word "feire" is spelled thus by Burns, a misspelling
> perhaps? (Isn't feire enemy and fiere friend? Or am I confusing this with
> something else? Unfortunately, I know but little Lallans.)
>
> At any rate, I offer this for those who care, and for those who do not, I go
> now to tak a wee dram for auld lang syne! (loving husband just came in with
> bottle of Talisker. Good night!) ;-)
>
> --Cynthia Cathcart
Thanks. Except for minor punctuation and spelling changes that's the way
Thomson printed it. That in the interleaved SMM and SMM #413 are the
same except for verse order. On the strength of the heading in the
letter to Thomson I would conclude that Burns, then, wrote none of any
of these versions.
Bruce Olson
--
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