The poem My Luve is Like a Red, Red Rose is also known as A Red, Red Rose. There is not a lot of information about this song which is often published as a poem. It's not known if it's an original poem by Robert Burns or if it is one of the many songs he preserved. Burns himself was quoted as saying it was "a simple old Scots song which I had picked up in the country."
My Luve is Like A Red, Red Rose was originally published in Pietro Urbani's Scots Songs around 1794, after being turned down by George Thomson for A Select Collection of Original Scottish Airs for the Voice. Thomson and Burns disagreed on the importance of the song.
In 1821, Robert Archibald Smith, matched the words to the tune of Low Down in the Broom and that tune is what is used today. The song continues to be a popular one with traditional Scottish musicians and adult contemporary musicians alike.
When I first read the lyrics, the song Touch Me by The Doors came to mind. That song seems to borrow heavily on the ideas put forward in A Red, Red Rose with the lyrics: "I'm gonna love you, till the heavens stop the rain, I'm gonna love you. Till the stars fall from the sky for you and I." My Luve is Like A Red, Red Rose is saying that "I will love you forever, no matter what happens." It is a very touching and romantic sentiment.
O my Luve's like a red, red rose,
That's newly sprung in June:
O my Luve's like the melodie,
That's sweetly play'd in tune.
As fair art thou, my bonie lass,
So deep in luve am I;
And I will luve thee still, my dear,
Till a' the seas gang dry.
Till a' the seas gang dry, my dear,
And the rocks melt wi' the sun;
And I will luve thee still, my dear,
While the sands o' life shall run.
And fare-thee-weel, my only Luve!
And fare-thee-weel, a while!
And I will come again, my Luve,
Tho' 'twere ten thousand mile!
