Hey for a Lass Wi' a Tocher
written in 1796
Awa wi' your witchcraft o' beauty's alarms, The slender bit beauty you grasp in your arms: O, gie me the lass that has acres o' charms, O, gie me the lass wi' the weel-stockit farms. Then hey for a lass wi' a tocher, then hey for a lass wi' a tocher, Then hey for a lass wi' a tocher, the nice yellow guineas for me. Your beauty's a flower, in the morning that blows, And withers the faster the faster it grows; But the rapturous charm o' the bonie green knowes, Ilk Spring they're new deckit wi' bonie white yowes. Then hey for a lass wi' a tocher, then hey for a lass wi' a tocher, Then hey for a lass wi' a tocher, the nice yellow guineas for me. And e'en when this Beauty your bosom has blest, The brightest o' beauty may cloy when possess'd; But the sweet, yellow darlings wi' Geordie impress'd, The langer ye hae them, - the mair they're carest! Then hey for a lass wi' a tocher, then hey for a lass wi' a tocher, Then hey for a lass wi' a tocher, the nice yellow guineas for me.
Hey for a Lass Wi' a Tocher - meaning Summary
Money Over Fleeting Beauty
Burns’ song favors practical marriage choices over romantic idealization. The speaker rejects ephemeral physical beauty as a seductive but fading “flower,” and praises a woman with a tocher (dowry), land, and “yellow guineas” as offering lasting value and security. Repeated choruses turn the poem into a rollicking, persuasive ballad voice that privileges economic stability and rural prosperity. The poem mixes humor and plain-speaking to argue that wealth and productive farms are more reliable foundations for marriage than transient charms.
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