Tam o’ Shanter, by Robert Burns

A reading of Robert Burns’ horror epic, Tam o’ Shanter, with images, including Alexander Goudie’s paintings based on the poem.
Image credits - South Ayrshire Council.
Filmed in Alloway, South Ayrshire.
Written in 1790, in a day, Tam O’ Shanter tells the story of a wayward farmer, journeying home from the pub after a night out and encountering a gathering of witches and warlocks in Alloway’s Auld Kirk.
#burnsnight #robertburns #scotland #scotlandisnow
Follow my adventures as I travel through the landscapes and history of Scotland. I make quick, quirky and (hopefully) funny content about Scotland's past, people and scenery.
I look for the hidden stories, forgotten people and beautiful scenery of Scotland and try to find the funny in the darkness, obscurity and occasional absurdity of our history.
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For all opportunities, please contact [e-mail]

[@moreach13]

Wonderful! First time I've heard Tam O Shanter read in Scots by someone who speaks Scots. It's so much better. Us puir Americans dinna ken!

[@jeepsthetimebandit]

Speaks Scots 😂 do you mean has a Scottish accent?

[@mojomojomonomojo]

Inspiration for legend of sleepy hollow

[@peruvnpasoz]

Loved this Robert, your voice and the beautiful visuals, absolute perfection!

[@salchipapa5843]

That was beautiful. Loved the subtitles especially.

[@stephenoran2019]

Excellent! Every time I think you have done your best, you do better! Awesome!

[@scotlandunplugged]

Thanks Stephen!

[@mickamoo1]

Wow! That was incredible ❤ Happy Burns Day Robert.

[@joanhoffman3702]

Wonderful! I would love to hear you recite more of Bobbie Burns’ poetry (with translations for us poor Americans).

[@michellepeoplelikeyoumurde8373]

Rab,Rabbie,Robert but never Bobbie or Robbie

[@jamesparkersculpture]

My favourite of Burn's poems. Excellent.

[@scotlandunplugged]

I had no idea 😂😂😂

[@bobuncle8704]

Simply fantastic

[@irenea2006]

Great video. Really enjoyed it. Thank you for the subtitles.

[@lorettablakeman3335]

Wonderful story,very exciting!Now I have to watch it again❤🤍💙

[@davidcreager1945]

Very enjoyable episode !!! Bravo !! 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿/🇺🇸

[@JessWLStuart]

Thank you! This was amazing and wonderful! Please consider reciting more (especially with the translations)!

[@sheilaaguon-hs5gf]

Beautifully read. Thank you.

[@scotlandunplugged]

Thank you! 😄

[@kimdemontmorency4120]

I loved listening to you read this poem and giving it such life…. clapping, encore!

[@margielewis6009]

thank you for sharing, That was just what I needed,

[@gabry15a86]

Wonderful story and accent :D Perfect for a Halloween night!!!

[@beverlyrobertson6796]

THANK YOU FOR YOUR KNOWLEDGE. EAST TENNESSEE.👍

[@patriciamccormack7626Teashee]

Robert that was AMAZING 👏👏👏👍🏆♥️ Gang yur self son O Scotland 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

[@scotlandunplugged]

Thank you!

[@juliestrickland7754]

Bravo, sir! Bravo! 👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏

[@cathyagain5841]

Excellent! I totally enjoyed your vlog. Beautiful scenery along with great paintings. Thank you.

[@scotlandunplugged]

Thank you!

[@Staggo_L]

Fantastic production. It’s utterly captivating. Thanks

[@LeesaDeAndrea]

I always thought Cutty Sark was the name of the boat on the whiskey bottle. Was the boat named for the witch's short skirt?

[@scotlandunplugged]

Thank you!

[@Hailstonepie]

Yay, im ready for burns night, got my haggis caught and in the fridge. 😊

[@scotlandunplugged]

I’m sure the haggis fairy will put one in mine soon too 😂

[@anthonykuhn7644]

Well done. Great poem with the translation for us non scots. Loved your choice of art work

[@K_A421]

“Och aye!” Absolutely outstanding!! Thank you! ⭐️👏🏼🏆

[@michele3649]

I know this is a bit late, but my husband and I listened to this episode just recently. After hearing your fabulous reading of Tam O Shanter, I went to look for more like this on KZbin, and couldn't find them. This is the first time I have been able to understand what all the fuss is about with Robert Burns. I would love, love, love it if you could do this again. To hear it is Scots, with the subtitles, was just fabulous. Thank you!

[@lindaarmstrongjackman9788]

Thank you Robert. 👍😊👍

[@SuperKristinG]

Amazing! I love how you tell stories. Thank you for sharing.

[@cwccharters]

Bob, Excellent recital! Thank you!

[@OcamRzr]

Excellent! I soo much appreciate the subtitles as some passages required a translation but bravo 👏 for illustrating the tale.

[@scotlandunplugged]

Thank you!

[@johnperry5102]

your channel is great it is very educational and also very entertaining

[@scotlandunplugged]

Thank you!

[@lindastreet-ely9780]

Fantastic! Loved it!

[@Raineyluwho]

This was another excellent video! I've heard the tale but never understood it well. Thank you for the subtitles! 💜

[@scotlandunplugged]

Thank you!

[@suellenspencer-eb2nv]

Fantastic. Thank you❤❤❤

[@karelcindrich1975]

I was mesmerized listening to you recite this! You do this to me every time I listen to you tell a good story, your voice, love it❤❤

[@mschoy1597]

Love it 🎉❤💛💥🎉❤💛💚💫

[@scotlandunplugged]

Thank you!

[@chichitex1252]

What a delightful video! Thank you so much!❤❤❤

[@scotlandunplugged]

Thank you!

[@adoxartist1258]

Yeah, I would'a hated that too when I was a kid. I think it's great now, though. Thanks for a well-read poem!

[@scotlandunplugged]

I was talking to my wife about this earlier. She was teaching Scottish county dancing, and said how much she likes it. It’s great, when you’re an adult and slightly drunk 😂

[@slydermartin6008]

YES!!! I Don my cap Sir! Bravo! Epic! Thank You for having the courage to translate from the Original Glaswegian!

[@scotlandunplugged]

Thank you!

[@cheryl4811]

Bravo. Thank you Rob!

[@TheMeg0128]

That was awesome! I grew up on a street named Tam o’ Shanter! Never realized or thought of it being a name! 😂 just thought it was a lil cap. Thanks Robert… very cool video and very much enjoyed! 👏🏻❤️

[@scotlandunplugged]

Apparently the cap was named after the character. 🙂

[@Emma-Jayne]

I love that poem, what a magnificent piece of writing. As for the art, wow! Stunning. Food for the eyes and ears ❤

[@jenniferw1570]

For days, I've had "Tam O' Shanter in my mind, the word popping up, over and over. So I found this. Thank you so much, I enjoyed the art edited alongside as well.

[@vickimarkjones]

Thanks. Beautiful recitation.

[@barbridingsTheResinator]

Beautiful Robert! Loved the illustrations.

[@kathleenmuller306]

That was so cool!!! Absolutely loved it! Thank you for sharing it with us the way it was originally written, my little percent of Scottish DNA loved it! K.❤

[@tinahale9252]

I've come across this three times in my life. Definitely a message

[@helpinyerdasellavon]

Beautiful, Robert! Enjoyed so much your fascinating reading, captivating scenery and wonderful paintings. Thank you 💕

[@elizabethghent194]

Wonderful to hear Burns’ masterpiece in true Scots and an amazing video altogether. A masterpiece! Very much appreciated from an Edinburgh Exile. Thank you.

[@blane1814]

Subscribed, you read it beautifully

[@jeepsthetimebandit]

I'm thankful for the subtitles. I refuse to talk to my Scottish friend on the phone. He has to message me only because I need subtitles for him too 😅

[@scotlandunplugged]

😂

[@josefinagarza241]

Lol cute

[@maryhb1954]

Absolutely loved it!

[@scotlandunplugged]

Thank you!

[@Grandmotherof3]

It’s all been said! 😊 Bravo!

[@apophispsycho6186]

Very nice Robert 8)

[@shirleylaboy603]

Awesome Robert., you know how to tell a story. Loved it. Thanks for sharing. 🙂❤️

[@scotlandunplugged]

Thank you!

[@bethotoole6569]

I remember reading this in university. It took me forever to translate it..! You did a wonderful rendition..much better than my prof who thought himself a scholar. Thank you for the wonderful poem full of all my favorite things….death and religion!!

[@momnoah5]

I love it! I could listen to you all day!

[@alicegamble6145]

Good evening. Great video as usual. The scenery is beautiful. You are very talented. I love listening to your Scottish brogue. Thanks for sharing a Robbie Burns classic.

[@scotlandunplugged]

Thank you! 😄

[@Jean-yn6ef]

💚🏜💚 awesome !

[@skyedancer3106]

Hi Robert what a great video. I loved hearing you recite this. You did an amazing job. Take care and stay safe till next time. ❤️

[@jodifinnegan4453]

I thoroughly enjoyed this!! Im going back to watch again. So much to see and hear (and read 😄).

[@lorifromtemeculaca426]

SUCH an experience!!! ;-)

[@kathleenharvey5538]

Absolutely love listening to you speak! Certainly appreciated the subtitles to the reading. Did you have to memorize that? Seems impossible. Keep up the good work.

[@scotlandunplugged]

Haha. I had to know it to get through it, but didn’t have time to memorise it fully, so cheated!

[@Natalese13]

I just realized I have yet to grace the Tam O'Shanter pub here in Southern California. But I have had a dram at the Drouthy Neebor during The Fringe! The Burns Center instilled a lot of appreciation within me upon visiting. And quite an interesting exhibition with interactive moments tied in well with the artifacts. A belated Burns Day well wish to you!

[@pattyannbeaven9287]

I came to your channel because your brother Graeme mentioned you when he did a podcast with Cammy Wilson on Fed By Farmers, Cammy also did a very animated rendition of Tam o’Shanter , I enjoyed your rendition too. I look forward to catching up on your other videos 🙂

[@catherinesikora8397]

Beautifully done! I loved having the subtitles and images to follow along! It was the first time many of these words made sense to me, though I have oft listened to this poem. Loved your rendition! Overall an excellent presentation!

[@jonathangoll2918]

Great! And that's where the name of the great sailing ship, the Cutty Sark, comes drom.

[@E_D_43]

Well done that man 😊

[@libraryanne2392]

Lovely recitation! (My favourite Burns is "My Heart's in the Highlands") Happy Robby Burns Day!

[@michellepeoplelikeyoumurde8373]

RAB,Rabbie or Robert but never Robbie

[@libraryanne2392]

@@michellepeoplelikeyoumurde8373 Indeed! (stupid autocorrect!)

[@vharrald]

I loved the poem... It's sounds so much better in Scottish gaelic than in American English

[@scotlandunplugged]

Thank you! That’s just old Scots. Gaelic’s even more challenging 😅

[@vharrald]

@@scotlandunplugged for me, it's music to me ears... Listening to you helps keep me in practice on me Scottish accent...

[@jared1870]

Burns, as he should be read, unless you have retained that in memory all these years, in which case I am beyond impressed. Either way, tapadh leat!

[@Iris_Germany]

Very nice video, Robert. Thank you for reading Tom O Shanter for us. 😊👍🏻 Now I know where the famous Clipper‘s name „Cutty Sark“ came from. And the name of the whisky. 😉 Do you know a German Hard Rock Band (about 1980) from Bonn was named Cutty Sark? Greetings from Germany 🇩🇪

[@simonbaker1239]

I liked the honesty of the intro - a lot of my (English) pupils feel the same about being made to study Shakespeare. I'll be showing this video to my A Level class who are revising this poem ready for their exam in a few weeks' time. They have already seen a couple of performances but I love how this one combines a great reading with the brilliant Goudie paintings AND filmed footage AND a modern version in the subtitles. They're also doing a Liz Lochhead poem so it's not 100% ENGLISH Literature, whatever it says on the exam paper. And ay the better for it.

[@scotlandunplugged]

Wow. Brilliant! Thank you. 🙂

[@mojomojomonomojo]

Do you think this was washington irvings inspiration for sleepy hollow

[@simonbaker1239]

@@mojomojomonomojo It's certainly possible. I've done a quick bit of reading around and as far as I can see Irving didn't acknowledge it as an influence or write about having read it. However he was living in England when he wrote The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and set it in the same year as Tam o'Shanter. Maybe both writers are just tapping into similar fears of darkness, the unknown and pursuit. I agree the idea of needing to get across a bridge on a horse seems strikingly similar!

[@camerongibson6342]

Great video Robbie always think that doing a Burns poem you should have an Ayrshire accent to get round the words .

[@scotlandunplugged]

Haha. Thanks Cameron. Yeah, that would definitely help.

[@monabale8263]

and all this time i thought cutty sark was a ship...

[@davidpaterson2309]

Which was named after her (a tea clipper that was “faster than all the others” - geddit?). If you see that venerable ship in London you will also see it’s figurehead - a young witch, running, in a “cutty sark” (short dress).

[@scotlandunplugged]

And a whisky 😉

[@k.jespersen6145]

Poor Maggie. So *THAT'S* where "Cutty Sark" came from! I always wondered what that tea clipper's name meant. The good ship "Short Skirt."

[@theseeker4642]

I'm Scottish & my father knew all the old poems & monologues & pronounced water as ' watta ' & devil as ' deil ' like the rest of us ! I suppose if you read the whole thing as most of speak, others wouldn't know what you were on about !

[@Sh4peofmyheart]

The offer stands. Should you ever fall upon difficult times, and find yourself in need of some spending money, I'll hire you to read my grocery list for me. I'll email it. You won't even have to leave your house... In all seriousness, though, I don't believe I've ever enjoyed Burns' poetry quite as much. This is a very funny poem, made much better when recited so masterfully. We'll done, once again!

[@avrilconacher]

Excellent. I enjoyed the mix of film and illustration ,Am i right in thinking the illustrations are by Alexander Goudie? Well read and I liked the way you gave the English transcription for non Scots speakers.

[@scotlandunplugged]

Thank you! They are indeed (mostly) Alexander Goudie. 🙂

[@EmeraldVideosNL]

Wonderfully told, and thank you for the subtitles, that really helped. I honestly didn't know the Scots had so many unique words. Yesterday I learned Freedom Come All Ye was Scottish(?) It's clearly not Gaelic, just like this poem, but is it a separate dialect or rather a language like Friesian is in the Netherlands?

[@scotlandunplugged]

Thank you! It’s Scots. It’s recognised as an indigenous language these days (although it was discouraged in schools for a long time). It developed from the same source as English, from around the 6th century, so Germanic in origin. We have the same sound for “ch” sound as you do for “gh” (I think). I spent a couple of months in Amsterdam.

[@EmeraldVideosNL]

@@scotlandunplugged That's interesting, a germanic influence does explain a similarity in sounds. You are right, the Scots "ch" of 'Loch' sounds exactly like the Dutch word 'lach' (smile/laugh). Our "g" sound is much harsher and apparently more difficult for Scots (or anyone in the world really) to pronounce. At least that what we found when we were touring the Highlands and a friendly lass at one of the visitor centres tried to say a Dutch word starting with g (Grabbel ton: a box filled to the brim with paper with small presents hidden inside, meant to be searched without looking). She couldn't do it, though she definitely tried, it was great fun. I don't know if there are many words in Scots that start with "ch", if not that might make it more difficult.

[@theRhinsRanger]

Its about history and 2 cultures

[@shalacarter6658]

Puir wee Maggie deserves a statue.

[@charlesmugleston6144]

A Burns Masterpiece masterly presented - am sure Dylan Thomas of vocal excellence fame would give you a pat on the back. Meanwhile, in kind return - a poem of mine to share abroad the day - the world - enjoy. TOAST TO A VEGETARIAN HAGGIS Och wee veggie haggie Gran sonsie Scran Quick ! jump on the plate As gleg as you can Tis the time of joy Ma boy To serve the Clan To feast on yer beastie To become human ! Och tickle ma tastebuds An tingle ma toes Up an down with ye Where to ? Och nobody nose...! AHH you were Great We thank ee right well An all who hate Indy Can toddle off to Hell Signed: Rhubarb Burns - a very distant relation to the more famous one X

[@scotlandunplugged]

😂

[@robertamity3563]

👍😎🇺🇸?

[@janetmackinnon3411]

Aye, no' bad, no' bad...

[@treyporter7611]

Do Scottish people still talk like this or is some translation required?

[@jameseadie7145]

It's a form of code to confuse visitors from overseas

[@scotlandunplugged]

Definitely a fair bit of translation required. It’s more “old Scots”, but some if it’s still applicable 😂

[@onejourney]

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