Robert Tannahill: Collected Lyrics
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Public-domain lyrics

Barrochan Jean

Robert Tannahill

“Barrochan Jean” as printed in The Book of Scottish Song (1843).

Robert Tannahill: Collected Lyrics Text 1 1843 · historical text
Public domainScottish songFolk
Complete public-domain lyrics

This text comes from The Book of Scottish Song, edited by Alexander Whitelaw, a historical songbook transcribed on Wikisource and reproduced from the pinned revision linked below.

Verse 1

'Tis hinna ye heard, man, o' Barrochan Jean?

And hinna ye heard, man, o' Barrochan Jean!

How death and starvation came o'er the haill nation,

She wraught sic mischief wi' her twa pawky een;

The lads and the lasses were dying in dizzens,

The taen kill'd wi' love, and the tither wi' spleen,

The ploughing, the sawing, the shearing, the mawing,

A' wark was forgotten for Barrochan Jean!

Frae the south and the north, o'er the Tweed and the Forth,

Sic coming and ganging there never was seen,

The comers were cheery, the gangers were blearie,

Despairing, or hoping for Barrochan Jean.

The carlins at hame were a' girning and graning,

The bairns were a' greeting frae morning till e'en,

They gat naething for crowdy, but runts boil'd to sowdie,

For naething gat growing for Barrochan Jean.

The doctors declar'd it was past their descriving,

The ministers said 'twas a judgment for sin,

But they lookit sae blae, and their hearts were sae wae,

I was sure they were dying for Barrochan Jean.

The burns on road-sides were a' dry wi' their drinking,

Yet a' wadna sloken the drouth i' their skin;

A' around the peat-stacks, and alangst the dyke backs,

E'en the winds were a' sighing, sweet Barrochan Jean.

The timmer ran done wi' the making o' coffins,

Kirkyards o' their sward were a' howkit fu' clean,

Dead lovers were packit like herring in barrels,

Sic thousands were dying for Barrochan Jean.

But mony braw thanks to the Laird o' Glen-Brodie,

The grass owre their graffs is now bonnie and green,

He sta' the proud heart of our wanton young lady,

And spoil'd a' the charms o' her twa pawky een.

Credits

Written by Robert Tannahill

Words by Robert Tannahill. Historical text published in The Book of Scottish Song (1843); public domain. No claim to a modern recording or arrangement.

Source & text edition

The Book of Scottish Song (1843), edited by Alexander Whitelaw, “Barrochan Jean”

Every contribution in this 1843 anthology predates modern copyright terms by more than a century; any contributor died at least 130 years ago, so the text is in the public domain worldwide (life+70 terms expired no later than 2020).

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 2026-10-12. 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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