The first, and only, verse fit to quote originally ran thus:
“John Anderson, my jo, cum in as ye gae bye,
And ye sail get a sheips heid, weel baken in a pye;
Weel baken in a pye, and the haggis in a pot:
John Anderson, my jo cum in, and ye’s get that,”
In the first volume of a collection entitled, Poetry Original and Selected, printed by Brash & Reid, of Glasgow, this song is given as follows:
John Anderson, my jo, Improved.
By Robert Burns.
John Anderson, my jo, John, I wonder what you mean,
To rise so soon in the morning, and sit up so late at e’en,