A Burns Songbook

The Farewell

Arrangement Copyright (C) 1999 The Robert Burns Club of Milwaukee
All Rights Reserved. See the full copyright notice for complete terms and conditions for reproducing this material.

Notes:

Burns wrote this as a farewell to his Masonic brothers when his fortunes appeared to force him to emmigrate to the West Indies. The successful publication of the Kilmarnock Edition changed all that.

Burns set his song to a well-known Scottish tune, Guidnight, and joy be wi' you a'. This tune is known to Irish musicians as The Parting Glass.