“The White Cockade”

Description

The singer describes her handsome young love. He has taken the white cockade and joined Prince Charlie's armies. She promises to sell her possessions to equip him well. Some versions describe how Prince Charles was displaced

Supplemental text

White Cockade, The
  Complete text(s)

          *** A ***


From James Johnson, "The Scots Musical Museum," Volume III, #272, p.
281. As found in the 1853 edition (punctuation is somewhat uncertain,
given the state of the facsimile).

My love was born in Aberdeen,
The boniest lad that e'er was seen,
But now he makes our hearts fu' sad,
He takes the field wi' his White Cockade.

  Oh, he's a ranting, roving lad,
  He is a brisk an' a bonny lad,
  Betide what may, I will be wed,
  And follow the boy wi' the White Cockade.

I'll sell my rock, my reel, my tow,
My gude gray mare and hawkit cow;
To buy myself a tartan plaid,
To follow the boy wi' the White Cockade.

Notes

The white cockade was, of course, a Jacobite emblem. Bonnie Prince Charlie (Charles Edward Stuart, 1720-1788) was the son of James (III), himself the son of James II, the English king deposed in 1689/90.

This piece is often found as a fiddle tune. It may be that it lost its words because people dared not sing a Jacobite song, but liked the melody. But this is probably beyond proof. - RBW

Historical references

• 1745-1746 - Jacobite rebellion of 1745

Same tune

• The Green Cockade (Healy-OISBv2, pp. 40-41)
• The Wind Blew the Bonnie Lass's Plaidie Awa' (File: RcWBTBLP)
• The Old Settoo (File: OLcM026A)

Cross references

• cf. "King William is King James's Son" (lyrics)
• cf. "The Old Settoo" (tune)

References

1. Randolph 120, "Prince Charles He Is King James's Son" (1 text)
2. Combs/Wilgus 144, p. 149, "Ranting Roving Lad" (1 text -- from West Virginia, but still with clear traces of Scots dialect)
3. Linscott, pp. 115-118, "Virginia Reel" [medley of "The Irish Washerwoman," "The White Cockade," and "Yankee Doodle"] (1 tune for each of the three melodies, plus dance instructions); p. 120, "The White Cockade" (1 tune)
4. Meredith/Covell/Brown, p. 88, "The White Cockade" (1 tune)
5. DT, WHTECOCK*
6. ADDITIONAL: Kathleen Hoagland, editor, One Thousand Years of Irish Poetry (New York, 1947), pp. 181-182, "The White Cockade" (1 text, translated from the Gaelic with some lines surely inspired by "King William was King James's Son"; the rest is not the usual "White Cockade" though it has similarities; I rather suspect two-way translation)
7. ST R120 (Full)
8. Roud #709
9. BI, R120