Ae Fond Kiss

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The Scots song "Ae Fond Kiss, and Then We Sever", by Robert Burns, is more commonly known as "Ae Fond Kiss". The song is Burns' most recorded song. The Ae is pronounced to rhyme with "hay".^[1]

Lyrics

	Ae Fond Kiss The tune for Ae Fond Kiss
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Written in a letter to Agnes M'Lehose, or 'Clarinda', (also known as 'Nancy' to her friends) in December 1791, when she left Burns, and Scotland, to follow her husband to Jamaica to try to save her marriage.

As written in three verses of eight lines in Burns' Original setting to the tune Rory Dalls' Port Scots Musical Museum...

Ae fond kiss, and then we sever;

Ae fareweel, alas, for ever!

Deep in heart-wrung tears I'll pledge thee,

Warring sighs and groans I'll wage thee!

Who shall say that Fortune grieves him

While the star of hope she leaves him?

Me, nae cheerfu' twinkle lights me,

Dark despair around benights me.

I'll ne'er blame my partial fancy;

Naething could resist my Nancy;

But to see her was to love her,

Love but her, and love for ever.

Had we never loved sae kindly,

Had we never loved sae blindly,

Never met—or never parted,

We had ne'er been broken-hearted.

Fare thee weel, thou first and fairest!

Fare thee weel, thou best and dearest!

Thine be ilka joy and treasure,

Peace, enjoyment, love, and pleasure!

Ae fond kiss, and then we sever!

Ae fareweel, alas, for ever!

Deep in heart-wrung tears I'll pledge thee,

Warring sighs and groans I'll wage thee!

Recordings

• Andy M. Stewart - Songs of Robert Burns
• Eddi Reader - Sings the Songs of Robert Burns
• Karan Casey - Ships in the Forest
• The Corries - Scottish Love Songs
• Dougie MacLean - Indigenous
• Kenneth McKellar (singer) with Patricia Cahill 'The Great Duets' 1971
• John Gorka - So Dark You See
• Bryn Terfel - First Love: Songs from the British Isles
• Colin Waterson - Glasgow Boy
• Edith Wiens - Ae Fond Kiss: Ballads, Folksongs, Parlour Songs
• Karen Matheson w. Paul Brady, Transatlantic Sessions.

References

1. ^ Paul Higgins, Alec Norton & Stella Gonet [1] BBC, December 22, 2008. Retrieved February 7, 2012.

v t e Poetry by Robert Burns "Comin' Thro' the Rye" (1782) "John Barleycorn" (1782) "Address to the Deil" (1785) "Epitaph for James Smith" (1785) Halloween (1785) Holy Willie's Prayer (1785) "To a Mouse" (1785) The Kilmarnock volume (1786) "To a Louse" (1786) "To a Mountain Daisy" (1786) "The Battle of Sherramuir" (1787) "The Birks of Aberfeldy" (1787) "Auld Lang Syne" (1788) Tam o' Shanter (1790) "Ae Fond Kiss" (1791) "Sweet Afton" (1791) "The Slave's Lament" (1792) "Oh, whistle and I'll come to you, my lad" (1793) "Scots Wha Hae" (1793) "A Red, Red Rose" (1794) "Is There for Honest Poverty" (1795)