Song 25:365 concludes my trilogy of Scottish songs in honour of our national poet Robert Burns, and it’s only right to finish with a Burns song. Ae Fond Kiss was written in 1791 for Agnes Maclehose with whom he had developed a platonic relationship. Correspondence was exchanged between the two using the pseudonyms Clarinda and Sylvander. Burns wrote the poem after their final meeting and sent it to his “Clarinda” on 27 December 1791, before she left for Jamaica to be reunited with her estranged husband.

I came up with this arrangement when I played the song for Scottish singer Moira Kerr at a Coila concert about 20 years ago, and since then I’ve always played it in this style and in the unusual (for me!) key of B major. I hope you enjoy it!

There’s lots more Scottish music in my collection and to find out why I’m playing a song a day, click here.