White Cockade


My love was born in Aberdeen,
The bonniest lad that ere was seen;
But now he makes oor heart fu' sad,
He takes the field wi' his White Cockade.

O he's a ranting, roving lad!
He is a brisk an' a bonnie lad!
Betide what may, I will be wed,
And follow the boy with the White Cockade.

I'll sell my rock, my reel, my tow,
My gude grey mare and hawkit cow.
To buy mysel' a tartan plaid,
To follow the boy with the White Cockade.

O he's a ranting, roving lad!
He is a brisk an' a bonnie lad!
Betide what may, I will be wed,
And follow the boy with the White Cockade.

Other words for this tune are found in Burns' Cantata, "The Jolly Beggars", where it was sung to a different tune. The original tune must have been very old, probably dating to well before 1549, as reference is to be found of its being used as one of the Reformers' 'Spiritual hymn' tunes. The more modern tune is found in Aird's collection of 1784 and was used in 1788 by O'Keefe in his opera "My Highland Reel". The Jacobite version begins "My love was born in Aberdeen" which in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries had to have references to "The White Cockade" omitted, being too close intime to the Rising of 1745. (See also "A Highland Lad".)

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