Comin' Thro' the Rye
"Comin' Thro' the Rye" is a poem written in 1782 by Robert Burns (1759–1796). It is well known as a traditional children's song, with the words put to the melody of the Scottish Minstrel Common' Frae The Town. This is a variant of the tune to which Auld Lang Syne is usually sung—in fact the melodic shape is practically the same, the difference lying in the tempo and rhythm.
G.W. Napier, in an 1876 Notes and Queries, wrote that,
The original words of "Comin' thro' the rye" cannot be satisfactorily traced. There many different versions of the song. The version which is now to be found in the Works of Burns is the one given in Johnson's Museum, which passed through the hands of Burns; but the song itself, in some form or other, was known before Burns.[1]
While the original poem is already full of sexual imagery, an alternate version makes this more explicit. It has a different chorus, referring to a phallic "staun o' staunin' graith", "kiss" is replaced by "fuck", and Jenny's "thing" in stanza four is identified as her "cunt".[2][3][4]
Lyrics
O, Jenny's a' weet,[A] poor body,
Jenny's seldom dry:
She draigl't[B] a' her petticoatie,
Comin thro' the rye!
Chorus:
Comin thro' the rye, poor body,
Comin thro' the rye,
She draigl't a' her petticoatie,
Comin thro' the rye!
Gin[C] a body meet a body
Comin thro' the rye,
Gin a body kiss a body,
Need a body cry?[D]
(chorus)
Gin a body meet a body
Comin thro' the glen,
Gin a body kiss a body,
Need the warl'[E] ken?[F]
(chorus)
Gin a body meet a body
Comin thro' the grain;
Gin a body kiss a body,
The thing's a body's ain.
(chorus)
Ilka lassie has her laddie,
Nane, they say, ha’e I
Yet all the lads they smile on me,
When comin' thro' the rye.
- A weet – wet
- B draigl't – draggled
- C gin – if, should
- D cry – call out [for help]
- E warl – world
- F ken – know
The Catcher in the Rye
The title of the book The Catcher in the Rye comes from the poem's name. Holden Caulfield, the protagonist, imagines children playing in a field of rye near the edge of a cliff, and catching them when they start to fall off.[5]
References
- ^ Napier, G.W. (19 February 1876). Notes and Queries (112) http://books.google.ca/books?id=PEwAAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA151#v=onepage&q&f=false.
{{cite journal}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) - ^ Damrosch, David (2003). What is world literature?. Princeton University Press. p. 123.
- ^ "Comin' thro' the rye [alternate version]". BBC. Retrieved 30 November 2011.
- ^ Burns, Roberts (1911). The Merry Muses of Caledonia. p. 61.
- ^ Chen, Lingdi (2009). "An Analysis of the Adolescent Problems in The Catcher in the Rye". Asian Social Science. 5 (5): 144. Retrieved 2 November 2011.
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