Bannocks o' Barley

DESCRIPTION: Highlanders are "the lads wi' the bannocks o' barley." They "drew the gude claymore for Charlie," "cowed the English lowns," "stood in ruin wi' bonny Prince Charlie" and suffered "'neath the Duke's bluidy paw"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1796 (Scots Musical Museum)
KEYWORDS: rebellion nonballad patriotic Jacobites
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
Apr 16, 1746 - Battle of Culloden Muir ends the 1745 Jacobite rebellion: the Duke of Cumberland defeats the supporters of Charles Edward Stuart.
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Hogg-JacobiteRelicsOfScotlandVol2 AJ21, "Bannocks o' Barley" (1 text)
ADDITIONAL: James Kinsley, editor, _Burns: Complete Poems and Songs_ (shorter edition, Oxford, 1969) #581, pp. 685-686, "Bannocks o' bear meal" (1 text, 1 tune, from the Scots Musical Museum)
Roud #5653
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Killogie" (tune, according to Burns)
cf. "Cakes o' Croudy" (tune [Hogg-JacobiteRelicsOfScotlandVol1 11], according to Hogg; the chorus is "bannocks of bear meal, cakes of croudy")
NOTES [107 words]: The words from Hogg-JacobiteRelicsOfScotlandVol2 and Burns are different enough that, while both are the same song, it's not clear to me whether one is the source of the other. The description follows Hogg-JacobiteRelicsOfScotlandVol2. - BS
The Duke of Cumberland was known as "Butcher" Cumberland, and he was very fat, with a pushed-in face that really did cause him to resemble a bear; hence, presumably, the reference to his "bluidy paw." The reference to bannocks of bear (bare?) meal sounds to me like a reference to the poor rations of the Jacobite army.
For the Battle of Culloden, see especially the notes to "The Muir of Culloden." - RBW
Last updated in version 2.4
File: HoggAJ21

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