The Book of Scottish Song/Gudewife, count the lawin

Gudewife, count the lawin.

[Burns furnished the tune and words of this song to Johnson's Museum. "The chorus," he says, "is part of an old song, one stanza of which I recollect:

Every day my wife tells me
That ale and brandy will ruin me;
But if gude liquor be my dead,
This shall be written on iny head—
O gudewife, count the lawin,
The lawin, the lawin;
O gudewife, count the lawin,
And bring a coggie mair."]

Gane is the day, and mirk's the night;
But we'll ne'er stray for faut o' light:
For ale and brandy's stars and moon,
And blud-red wine's the rising sun.

Then, gudewife, count the lawin,
The lawin, the lawin,
Then, gudewife, count the lawin,
And bring a coggie mair.

There's wealth and ease for gentlemen,
And semple folk maun fecht and fen;
But here we're a' in ae accord,
For ilka man that's drunk's a lord.

My coggie is a haly pool,
That heals the wounds o' care and dool;
And pleasure is a wanton trout—
An ye drink but deep, ye'll find him out.

Then, gudewife, count the lawin,
The lawin, the lawin,
Then, gudewife, count the lawin,
And bring's a coggie mair.

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