Oh Open the Door, Lord Gregory- Burns 1787 Child I
Oh open the door, Lord Gregory- Version I; The Lass of Roch Royal Child 76
Johnson's Museum, I, 5, No 5, 1787.
1 'Oh open the door, Lord Gregory,
Oh open, and let me in;
The rain rains on my scarlet robes,
The dew drops oer my chin.'
2 'If you are the lass that I lovd once,
As I true you are not she,
Come give me some of the tokens
That past between you and me.'
3 'Ah wae be to you, Gregory,
An ill death may you die!
You will not be the death of one,
But you'll be the death of three.
4 'Oh don't you mind, Lord Gregory,
'Twas down at yon burn-side
We changed the ring of our fingers,
And I put mine on thine?'
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"The following Remarks on Scottish Song," says Cunningham, "exist in the handwriting of Burns, in an interleaved copy of the first four volumes of Johnson's Musical Museum, which the poet presented to Captain Riddel, of Friar's Carse. On the death of Mrs Riddel, these precious volumes passed into the hands of her niece, Eliza Bay ley, of Manchester, who kindly permitted Mr Cromek to transcribe and publish them in his volume of the Reliques of Burns."
OH, OPEN THE DOOR, LORD GREGORY
It is somewhat singular that in Lanark, Renfrew, Ayr, "Wigton, Kirkcudbright, and Dumfries shires, there is scarcely an old song or tune which, from the title, &c, can be guessed to belong to, or be the production of, these counties. This, I conjecture, is one of these very few; as the ballad, which is a long one, is called, both by tradition and in printed collections, "The Lass of Lochroyan," which I take to be Lochroyan in Galloway.
On, open the door, Lord Gregory,
Oh, open and let me in;
The wind blows through my yellow hair,
The dew draps o'er my chin.
If you are the lass that I loved once,
As I trow you are not she,
Come gie me some of the tokens
That pass'd 'tween you and me.
Ah, wae be to yon, Gregory!
An ill death may you die;
You will not be the death of one,
But you'll be the death of three.
Oh, don't you mind, Lord Gregory?
'Twas down at yonder burn side
We changed the ring off our fingers,
And I put mine on thine.