Whar the Dichty Rins

On Springthyme SPRCD 1030
Jim Reid & John Huband - Freewheeling Now

Set to music by Jim Reid singer, this was written as a poem in the late 1800s by Dundee poet James Lowe. Nowadays, walking uo the banks of the Dichty Burn at the back of Dundee, you could be excused for doubting the words of the song — with the old matress, the shopping trolley and the spare tyre scattered in the places that once were ‘the beauty spots whar the Dichty rins’.

1: Whar the Dichty rins by yon fairy dell,
Whar the rowan tree hings abin the well,
Though there’s nae cascades, nae falls, nor roarin linns,
Yet there’s beauty spots whar the Dichty rins.

2: Whar the Dichty rins by yon hawthorn tree,
There I first met ane dearer still tae me,
Ilka neuk we kent wi aa its oots and ins,
Lovingly we strayed whar the Dichty rins.

3: Whar the Dichty rins by yon auld mains den,
Bairnies blythly play aa the games they ken,
And at nicht when the moon keeked oot atween the whins,
Lovers fondly stray whar the Dichty rins.

4: Whar the Dichty rins, oh I fain wad be,
For there’s nae ither burn half sae dear tae me,
And when I wi auld age totter on ma pins,
I’ll haud hame tae dee whaur the Dichty rins.

5: Whar the Dichty rins by yon fairy dell,
Whar the rowan tree hings abin the well,
Though there’s nae cascades, nae falls, nor roarin linns,
Yet there’s beauty spots whar the Dichty rins.
Words by Lames Lowe set to music by Jim Reid
c p 1990 Springthyme Music