Campbells Are Coming, The

DESCRIPTION: "The Campbells are coming, o-ho, o-ho! (x2), The Campbells are coming from bonnie Loch Lomond...." Argyle leads the van; the pipes sound. The singer expects them to win honor and success
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1748 ("A Choice Collection of 200 Favorite Country Dances")
KEYWORDS: Scotland soldier nonballad
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES (9 citations):
Greig/Duncan1 116, "The Campbells Are Comin'" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber/Silber-FolksingersWordbook, p. 281, "The Campbells Are Comin'" (1 text)
Dime-Song-Book #8, p. 44, "The Campbells are Comin'" (1 text)
Fuld, pp. 157-158, "The Campbells Are Coming"
DT, (CAMPBLL* -- the Burns text)
Greig/Duncan1 116, "The Campbells Are Comin'" (1 text, 1 tune)
Heart-Songs, p. 37, "The Campbells are Coming" (1 text, 1 tune)
ADDITIONAL: James Kinsley, editor, Burns: Complete Poems and Songs (shorter edition, Oxford, 1969) #314, p. 432, "The Campbells are comin" (1 text, 1 tune, from 1790)
James Johnson, Editor, _The Scots Musical Museum_ [1853 edition], volume III, #299, p. 309, "The Campbells are comin" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST FSWB281B (Full)
Roud #5784
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Yankees Are Coming" (tune)
SAME TUNE:
The Yankees Are Coming (File: Hud124)
The Camlachie Militia/The Russians are Coming (broadsides Murray, Mu23-y2:002, "The Camlachie Militia," ("The Russians are coming, oh dear, oh dear!"), Poet's Box (Glasgow), 1855; same broadside as NLScotland, L.C.Fol.70(49); [in broadside Murray, Mu23-y1:074, "The Russian in Glasgow," James Lindsay (Glasgow), 19C, this is given the tune "Joanne of Paris," but it's clearly this song; another Murray broadside, broadside Murray, Mu23-y1:075, "The Russians Are Coming," James Lindsay (Glasgow), probably c. 1855), does not appear to be the same piece]
The Northmen Are Coming (by George Perry) (Wolf-AmericanSongSheets p. 110)
Our Jackson Is Coming, oh, ho! oh, ho! (Lawrence-MusicForPatriotsPoliticiansAndPresidents, p. 244)
The Gallant Old Hero ("In a little Log Cabin, From whose humble door") (Lawrence-MusicForPatriotsPoliticiansAndPresidents, p. 274)
The Hero Statesman ("He comes from the West, in the strength of his name") (Harrison campaign song) (A. B. Norton, _Songs of the People in the Log Cabin Days of Old Tippecanoe_, A. B. Norton & Co., 1888 (available on Google Books), p. 58)
Old Abe's Lament ("Jeff Davis is coming, Oh! dear, Oh! dear") (Wolf-AmericanSongSheets, p. 192)
The Southrons Are Coming ("The Southrons are coming, heigho! heigho") (Wolf-AmericanSongSheets, p. 195)
NOTES [73 words]: Various theories have been offered about the historical significance of this song, which was certainly in existence by 1745. One has it that it concerns the suppression of the 1715 Jacobite rebellion; another, that it is concerned with the events around Mary Stewart's deposition. These theories and others like them are, at best, possible.
Robert Burns rewrote the song for the Scots Musical Museum (#299), keeping chorus and one verse. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.6
File: FSWB281B

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