Robert Burns Club of Milwaukee

A Burns Songbook


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    As important as was Burns's contribution to Scots literature with his original poetry, his greater contribution to Scots and to Western culture was his nearly single-handed rescue of the Scots folk music tradition.

    Herein are contained a collection of folksongs that Burns restored. The songs are provided as "Fake Book" arrangements (melody line with suggested chords) with lyrics. The songs are arranged in the keys of C, G, or D (no, 1 or 2 sharps) for ease of performance on folk instruments.

    We are providing the songs in the following formats:

    • HTML: Readable with your standard web browser. This format includes a rather low resolution (but still very readable) image in GIF format of the musical notation.

    • MIDI: A multimedia file that most browsers should be able to open and play so that you can listen to the tune.

      Note: It has come to our attention that certain versions of Netscape have difficulty playing MIDIs from our mirror site on GeoCities. This is undoubtedly due to the way that GeoCities displays banner ads and the problem does not occur with Internet Explorer (although I would be the last one to recommend IE). If you are unable to load MIDIs from our mirror site, try our Primary Site.

    • PDF: For those who would like a crisp and clean hardcopy of the sheet music we are providing copies in Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF).

      In order to read and print PDF files, you will need a PDF viewer. You can download a free copy of Adobe Acrobat Reader from Adobe (you will need Acrobat Reader version 3.0 or later). If you don't like the idea of dealing with a big, impersonal company and would prefer to go the freeware/shareware route, you can download a free copy of GhostView. GhostView has the advantage of being able to create as well as read and print PDF files.

    In the spirit of Folk Musicianship, you are encouraged to use these arrangements as starting points, to change and add chords and to otherwise make them your own.


    Copyright, Disclaimer and the usual legal stuff:

      As with the OnLine Works, all the songs herein are in the Public Domain. The lyrics are all written by Robert Burns (1759-1796) and are in the Public Domain. The tunes are, for the most part, traditional Scots melodies that predate even Robert Burns, and are also in the Public Domain. All arrangements are original and are copyright (C) 1999 by The Robert Burns Club of Milwaukee. Permission is granted for the free dissemination and use of these arrangements for educational, personal and non-profit uses. All other rights are reserved.

      If anyone believes that any material on this website violates a valid copyright, please forward documentation of said copyright to the webmaster and the offending material will be removed.

    Songbook Contents

    Song Tune
    Ae Fond Kiss and Then We Sever Rory Dall's Port
    Auld Lang Syne
    Banks O' Doon (3rd version) The Caledonian Hunt's Delight
    Braes O' Killiecranchie Killiecranchie
    Ca' The Yowes To The Knowes
    Comin' Thro the Rye
    The Farewell Guidnight, And Joy Be Wi' You A'
    Highland Harry Back Again The Highlander's Lament
    John Anderson, My Jo
    Lament of Mary, Queen of Scots Mary Queen of Scots Lament
    Mac Pherson's Farewell Mac Pherson's Rant
    A Man's A Man for A' That
    A Red, Red Rose Low Down in the Broom
    Scots Wha Ha'e
    Such A Parcel Of Rogues In A Nation
    Sweet Afton Afton Water
    The Trogger Buy Brooms Besoms

Copyright and Disclaimer

Unless otherwise noted, all material on this site is copyright (C) 1999, 2000, 2001 The Robert Burns Club of Milwaukee. Permission is granted to freely use this material for educational or non-profit purposes. All other rights reserved.

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Page last updated 31-OCT-2000