O a’ the airts

O a’ the airts

– cello has tune

of all the airts the wind can blow
I dearly like the west
for it’s there the bonny lassie lives
the lassie I love best
where wild woods grow and rivers row
and many’s 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 tuneful birds
I hear her charm the air
there’s not a bonny flower that springs
by fountain, shaw or green
there’s not a bonny bird that sings
but minds me o’ my Jean

– accordion with tune, fiddle descant

I see her in the dewy flowers {ah-ah…}
I see her sweet and fair
I hear her in the tuneful birds
I hear her charm the air
there’s not a bonny flower that springs
by fountain, shaw or green
there’s not a bonny bird that sings
but minds me o’ my Jean

– whistle and fiddle with tune and decorations

The song was originally published in the 1790 volume of The Scots musical museum (editor James Johnson), which is the origin of the title. The following text is from the Hastie manuscript, collated with the 1790 publication:

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.

source : No. 227 in Poems and songs of Robert Burns / edited by James Kinsley. – Oxford : Clarendon Press, 1968