Gala Water

Chorus: Braw braw lads on Yarrow braes,
Ye wander through the blooming heather;
But Yarrow braes, nor Ettrick shaws,
Can match the lads o' Gala water,
Braw braw lads.

1. But there is ane, a secret ane,
Aboon them a', I lo'e him better;
An' I'll be his and he'll be mine,
The bonnie lad o' Gala water.

(Chorus)

2. Altho' his dadie was nae laird,
An' tho' I hae nae meickle tocher.
Yet, rich in kindest, truest love,
We'll tent our flocks by Gala water.

(Chorus)

3. It ne'er was wealth, it ne'er was wealth,
That cof't [1] contentment, peace or pleasure.
The bands and bliss o' mutual love,
Oh that's the chiefest warld's treasure.

(Chorus)

[1] = bought

Gala Water. One of the most beautiful of our old Scottish melodies. It is somewhat 
singular, however, that it is not to be found in any of our earlier collections. 
Neil Stewart gives it under the name of "Coming thro' the broom," in his "Thirty 
Scots songs for a voice and harpsichord," a work probably published between 1770, 
1775; the copy we have seen bears a manuscript date of 1780. Mr Stenhouse says, 
"This tune was greatly admired by the celebrated Dr Haydn, who harmonized it for 
Mt William Whyte's Collection of Scottish Songs. On the MS of the music, which I 
have seen, the Doctor expressed his opinion of the melody, in the best English he 
was master of, in the following short, but emphatic sentence:- 'This one Dr Haydn 
favourite song.'" In January 1793, Burns wrote the verses here published to this 
air. The Gala river rises in Mid-Lothian, and after uniting with the Heriot, runs 
south, and falls into the Tweed about four miles above Melrose, and a short 
distance below Abbotsford. The last detached measure, to the words "Braw, braw 
lads," does not belong to the original melody, but is inserted because the air is 
generally so sung at the present day. The singer may adopt or reject that additional 
measure.

The following is a portion of what Mr Robert Chambers gives as probably the 
original song of "Gala Water:"

Out owre yon moss, out owre yon muir,
Out owre yon bonnie bush o' heather,
Ca' ye lads whae'er ye be,
Show me the way to Gala water.

Lords and lairds cam here to woo,
An' gentlemen wi' sword and dagger,
But the black-ee'd lass o' Galashiels
Wad hae nane but the gree o' Gala water.

James Oswald, in the 8th Book of his Flute Collection, gives a set of the air, which, 
being pentatonic, is probably more ancient than any other now known. It has several 
unvocal intervals, which have been altered in the modern version.

Dr Joyce, in his Ancient Music of Ireland (1873), gives an Irish version of the air, 
and adds, "I have known it, and heard it sung, as long as I can remember." This may 
possibly mean fifty years, but it should not be forgotten that many of our Scottish 
airs were printed in Dublin as sixpenny half-sheet songs considerably before the end 
of [the eighteenth] century; not to mention that Irish reapers have been cutting our 
crops in Teviotdale and Tweeddale for a century and a half, and might very readily 
carry home so simple and charming a melody.

G Farquhar Graham, "The Popular Songs and Melodies of Scotland" (1893)