Burns Supper: Songs and Poems

Robert Burns wrote over 500 songs and poems during his short lifetime. No Burns Supper is complete without singing the songs and reciting the poetry of Burns.

The supper is usually preceded by Burns' Address to a Haggis. This noted production was composed with little forethought within a fortnight after the poet's arrival in Edinburgh, and was printed in the pages of the Caledonian Mercury, December 20th, 1786. You can find the full text, as well as a translation Here

At a Burns Supper you might also hear My Love is Like a Red Red Rose, There was a Lad, Coming Through the Rye, Ye Banks and Braes, and perhaps even a recitation of the great narrative poem Tam 'o Shanter.

The traditional end to any Burns Supper is the singing of classicly Scottish song Auld Lang Syne. Burns claimed to have written only two stanzas of this song (verses 2 and 3), while the others verses were from an old song. Nevertheless it's sentiment is timeless.

Songs of Robert Burns CD, sung by Carl Peterson.