Comin Thro' the Rye

Comin Thro' The Rye by Robert Burns

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wy2vyx_ZZn0

Robert Burns was born in Alloway in 1759. He worked on his father's farm, but spent much of his time reading and educating himself. His father insisted on employing a tutor for him and he started to write verse aged 15. When his father died in 1784, Robert and his brother Gilbert took on the farm as partners.

O, Jenny's a' weet, poor body,
  Jenny's seldom dry:
She draigl't a' her petticoatie,
  Comin thro' the rye!

Comin thro' the rye, poor body,
  Comin thro' the rye,
She draigl't a' her petticoatie,
  Comin thro' the rye!

Gin a body meet a body
  Comin thro' the rye,
Gin a body kiss a body,
  Need a body cry?

Gin a body meet a body
  Comin thro' the glen,
Gin a body kiss a body,
  Need the warl' ken?

Gin a body meet a body
  Comin thro' the grain;
Gin a body kiss a body,
  The thing's a body's ain.

In relation to The Catcher in the Rye the actual meaning of the poem is not important. What is important is how Holden heard (or misheard) a kid singing the song and constructed a whole story which suited his view of growing up. Really, Holden doesn't refer to the poem, he refers to his version of it. Coming Through the Rye is the story of young lovers meeting in a field and that story has nothing to do with its use in Catcher. It is a device and is not, in itself, important to the story. All that counts is Holden's distortion of it.

Most people only know of this through the work of J.D. Salinger but several variants on the verses of this piece are in existence, including the following which were added later by Burns for theatrical purposes.

Gin a body kiss a body
Comin' thro' the grain
Need a body grudge a body
What's a body's ain

Every lassie has her laddie
Nane, they say, ha'e I
yet a' the lads they smile at me
When comin' thro' the Rye

Amang the train, there is a swain
I dearly lo'e mysel'
But whaur his hame, or what his name
I dinna care to tell


ROUGH MINI GLOSSARY
a' weet .................................. all wet
draigl't a' her petticoatie .... dragged her petticoats
Gin a body ........................... If somebodyeed
n the warl' ken? ................... need the whole world know?
The thing's a body's ain ..... it's nobody else's business