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A man's a man for a' that • 6 translations
Featuring artist: The Corries
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Original lyrics
6 translations A man's a man for a' that lyrics
Is there for honest Poverty
That hings his head, an' a' that;
The coward slave - we pass him by,
We dare be poor for a' that!
For a' that, an' a' that.
Our toils obscure an' a' that,
The rank is but the guinea's stamp,
The Man's the gowd for a' that.
What though on hamely fare we dine,
Wear hoddin grey, an' a that;
Gie fools their silks, and knaves their wine;
A Man's a Man for a' that:
For a' that, and a' that,
Their tinsel show, an' a' that;
The honest man, tho' e'er sae poor,
Is king o' men for a' that.
Ye see yon birkie, ca'd a lord,
Wha struts, an' stares, an' a' that;
Tho' hundreds worship at his word,
He's but a coof for a' that:
For a' that, an' a' that,
His ribband, star, an' a' that:
The man o' independent mind
He looks an' laughs at a' that.
A prince can mak a belted knight,
A marquis, duke, an' a' that;
But an honest man's abon his might,
Gude faith, he maunna fa' that!
For a' that, an' a' that,
Their dignities an' a' that;
The pith o' sense, an' pride o' worth,
Are higher rank than a' that.
Then let us pray that come it may,
(As come it will for a' that,)
That Sense and Worth, o'er a' the earth,
Shall bear the gree, an' a' that.
For a' that, an' a' that,
It's coming yet for a' that,
That Man to Man, the world o'er,
Shall brothers be for a' that.
michealtComments
The lyrics were written by Robert Burns and first published in 1795. I've put the singers as the artist, and added Burns as a featured artist.
The language is not Scots but Scottish English; words like "gree" and "maun" were (in the late 18th century, when the song was written) common in England as well as in Scotland, and in Scotland they occurred both in Scottish English and in Scots. There are many nonstandard spellings clearly intended to indicate dialect pronunciation (for example "an" for "and" which is quite widespread in England as well as in Scotland) as well as 18th century spellings for words that our now spellt differently (eg "hoddin") and dialect words, for example in local English dialects in England north of the wash and in Scotland south of the Forth "hang" means "execute by hanging", and the other uses of "hang" in southern English dialects and in "Standard" English are replaced by "hing".
The only Scots word (as opposed to Scottish English) in the whole song is "coof" (it's not attested in English, so although it may have been English too I think that's unlikely). "Ribband" (meaning ribon/riband) was I believe replaced in Scots by "riband" about 200 years before this song was written, the Scots for "laughs" is "lauchs" and the Scots for "worth" is "wirth" and ... there are enough non-Scots English words to outweigh the single non-English Scots word and make it clear that the language is not Scots, but Scottish English.
Apparently the Corries' version has copyright issues in the USA. People affected by that can watch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hudNoXsUj0o instead - that's Sheena Wellington singing it at the opening of the Scottish parliament in 1999 and I imagine that if that has copyright problems the Scottish authorities might take an interest in who causes that.