http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annie_Laurie

Annie Laurie is an old Scottish song based on poem by William Douglas (1672?-1748) of Dumfries and Galloway. The words were modified and the tune was added by Alicia Scott in 1834/5. The song is also known as Maxwelton Braes.

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William Douglas
William Douglas became a soldier in the Royal Scots and fought in Germany and Spain and rose to the rank of captain. He also fought at least two duels. He returned to his estate at Fingland in 1694. Traditionally it is said that Douglas had a romance with Anna/Anne Laurie (16 December 1682 — 1761). Anna was the youngest daughter of Robert Laurie, who became first baronet of Maxwelton in 1685. The legend says that her father opposed a marriage. This may have been because Anna was very young; she was only in her mid-teens when her father died. It may also have been because of Douglas's aggressive temperament or more likely because of his Jacobite allegiances. It is known for certain that they knew of each because in a later letter by Anna she says in reply to news about Douglas "I trust that he has forsaken his treasonable opinions, and that he is content."

Douglas recovered from this romance and eloped with a Lanarkshire heiress, Elizabeth Clerk of Glenboig. They married in Edinburgh in 1706. Douglas's political beliefs forced him into exile. He became a mercenary soldier and sold his estate at Fingland in the 1720s, though eventually he received a pardon.


Anna Laurie's later life
In Edinburgh in 1710 Anna married Alexander Fergusson, Laird of Craigdarroch. (Early editions of Brewer's are in error claiming her husband was James Ferguson, who was in fact her son.) She lived at Craigdarroch for 33 years. Under her directions the present mansion of Craigdarroch was built, and a relic of her taste is still preserved in the formal Georgian gardens in the rear of the house. She died in 1764 and some sources say she was buried at Craigdarroch. Portraits of her exist at Maxwelton and at Mansfield, the seat of the Stuart-Monteiths. The portraits show that she had blue eyes.


Doubts about authorship
There has been some doubt that Douglas composed the poem. The words of the second verse of the song may be based on an old version of John Anderson My Jo, to the tune of which song Annie Laurie was sometimes sung. The words were first recorded in 1823 in Sharpe's "Ballad Book" which some people claim is a long delay for a song from 1700. Instead they say it may have been written by Allan Cunningham who invented contributions to Sharpe's book. However Douglas is known to have written other verses and he also knew an Anna Laurie of Maxwelton. This seems to point to him as being the originator of some of the first verse at least.


Lady John Scott's additions
In February 1890 Lady John Scott (1810-1900) (née Alicia Ann Spottiswoode) wrote to the editor of the Dumfries Standard, claiming that she had composed the tune and wrote the most of the modern words. She said that around 1834-5 she encountered the words in collection of the Songs of Scotland (1825) by Allan Cunningham in a library. She adapted the music she had composed for another old Scottish poem, Kempye Kaye. She also amended the first verse slightly, the second verse greatly, which she thought was unsuitable, and wrote a new third verse. In the 1850s Lady John published the song with some other songs of hers for the benefit of the widows and orphans of the soldiers killed in the Crimean War. The song became popular and was closely associated with Jenny Lind.

Lady John Scott version
The earliest known version by Lady John was published by James Lindsay of Glasgow and is:

Maxwelton's braes are bonnie,
Where early fa's the dew,
'Twas there that Annie Laurie
Gi'ed me her promise true.
Gi'ed me her promise true -
Which ne'er forgot will be,
And for bonnie Annie Laurie
I'd lay me down and dee.


Her brow is like the snaw-drift,
Her neck is like the swan,
Her face it is the fairest,
That 'er the sun shone on.
That 'er the sun shone on -
And dark blue is her e'e,
And for bonnie Annie Laurie
I'd lay me down and dee.


Like dew on gowans lying,
Is the fa' o' her fairy feet,
And like winds, in simmer sighing,
Her voice is low and sweet.
Her voice is low and sweet -
And she's a' the world to me;
And for bonnie Annie Laurie
I'd lay me down and dee.


Notes:


braes (a brae is a sloping bank of a river or sea-shore; a hill-slope)[1]
bonnie means pretty
fa's means falls
gi'ed means gave
dee means die
snaw means snow
e'e means eyes
gowans are daisies
o is of
simmer means summer
a is all
Original
The earliest known version which may be closest to what Douglas wrote is:

Maxwelton braes are bonnie, where early fa's the dew
Where me and Annie Laurie made up the promise true
Made up the promise true, and ne'er forget will I
And for bonnie Annie Laurie I'd lay doun my head and die
She's backit like the peacock, she's breistit like the swan
She's jimp aboot the middle, her waist ye weel may span
Her waist ye weel may span, and she has a rolling eye
And for bonnie Annie Laurie I'd lay doun my head and die.


Notes:


She's backit means her back
breisit means breast
jimp means elegant or slender
ye well may span means that you could encompass her waist with the span of two hands
a rolling eye is a 'come hither' look
The song "Annie Laurie" also is mentioned in a poem, The Song of the Camp, by Bayard Taylor (1825-1878).


Trivia
Winifred Bonfils (b.1863- d. May, 1936.) Reporter, columnist writing as Winifred Black for Hearst's syndicate and as Annie Laurie for the San Francisco Examiner.
Annie Laurie, sung by the Red Army Choir was chosen by the Irish American writer J. P. Donleavy as one of his Desert Island Discs on 4 March 2007.
The song appears prominently as a plot point in the 1998 Takashi Miike film The Bird People in China.
Swedish band The Radio Dept. cover the song on their 2002 EP of the same name.