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The Book of Scottish Song/My heart's in the Highlands

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For other versions of this work, see My Heart's in the Highlands.
2263089The Book of Scottish Song — My heart's in the HighlandsAlexander WhitelawAnonymous and Robert Burns (1759-1796)

My heart's in the Highlands.

[The first four lines of this song belong to an old stall ballad called "The strong walls of Derry." The rest were added by Burns for Johnson's Museum. Tune, "Failte na Miosg."

My heart's in the Highlands, my heart is not here;
My heart's in the Highlands, a-chasing the deer;
Chasing the wild deer, and following the roe;
My heart's in the Highlands wherever I go.
Farewell to the Highlands, farewell to the north,
The birth-place of valour, the country of worth;
Wherever I wander, wherever I rove,
The hills of the Highlands for ever I love.

Farewell to the mountains high cover'd with snow;
Farewell to the straths and green valleys below,
Farewell to the forests and wild-hanging woods;
Farewell to the torrents and loud-pouring floods.
My heart's in the Highlands, my heart is not here;
My heart's in the Highlands a-chasing the deer;
Chasing the wild deer, and following the roe,
My heart's in the Highlands wherever I go.