Robert Burns: Collected Lyrics
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Public-domain lyrics

Hey for a Lass wi' a Tocher

Robert Burns

“Hey for a Lass wi' a Tocher” as printed in The Poetical Works of Robert Burns (1887).

Robert Burns: Collected Lyrics Text 188 1887 · historical text
Public domainScottish songSong lyrics
Complete public-domain lyrics

This text comes from The Poetical Works of Robert Burns, a historical songbook transcribed on Wikisource and reproduced from the pinned revision linked below.

Verse 1

Awa wi' your witchcraft o' beauty's alarms,

The slender bit beauty you grasp in your arms:

O, gie me the lass that has acres o' charms,

O, gie me the lass wi' the weel-stockit farms.

Verse 2

CHORUS.

Then hey, for a lass wi' a tocher, then hey, for a lass wi' a tocher,

Then hey, for a lass wi' a tocher; the nice yellow guineas for me.

Verse 3

Your beauty's a flower in the morning that blows,

And withers the faster, the faster it grows;

But the rapturous charm o' the bonie green knowes,

Ilk spring they're new deckit wi' bonie white yowes.

Then hey, etc.

Verse 4

And e'en when this beauty your bosom has blest,

The brightest o' beauty may cloy, when possest;

But the sweet yellow darlings wi' Geordie imprest,

The langer ye hae them—the mair they're carest.

Then hey, etc.

Credits

Written by Robert Burns

Words by Robert Burns. Historical text published in The Poetical Works of Robert Burns (1887); public domain. No claim to a modern recording or arrangement.

Source & text edition

The Poetical Works of Robert Burns (1887), “Hey for a Lass wi' a Tocher”

Every text in this 1887 collected edition is by Robert Burns (1759-1796), who died more than 230 years ago, so the text is in the public domain worldwide; the edition carries a Wikisource PD-old determination and a pre-1931 United States publication.

How to read this historical text and its source

Read the source on Wikisource

View copyright evidence · Transcription terms (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Retrieved 2026-10-25. Line spacing and section labels are adapted for reading. The displayed text follows the linked edition. Editorial notes and abstract artwork are by 52lyrics.
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