Where Ha'e Ye Been A' the Day?

DESCRIPTION: "... Saw ye him [Charlie] that's far away ... he gave his royal word ... wi' his friend would live or dee. Weary fa' the Lawland loon ... Wha took frae him the British crown ... But blessings on the kilted clans ... That fought for him at Prestonpans."
AUTHOR: George Thomson?
EARLIEST DATE: 1790s (Thomson, according to Fowke)
KEYWORDS: nonballad political Jacobites derivative
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
Sept 21, 1745 - Battle of Prestonpans. Bonnie Prince Charlie's Highland army routs the first real Hannoverian force it encounters
FOUND IN: Canada(Ont)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Fowke-TraditionalSingersAndSongsFromOntario 25, "Bonny Laddie, Hielan' Laddie" (1 text, 1 tune)
ADDITIONAL: George Farquhar Graham, The Popular Songs of Scotland With Their Appropriate Melodies (Edinburgh, 1887 (J Muir Wood revision ("Digitized by Google"))), pp. 166-167, "Where Ha'e Ye Been A' the Day?" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #2330
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Geordie Sits In Charlie's Chair" (source, per Graham)
NOTES [107 words]: The second, fourth, sixth and eighth line of each eight-line verse is "Bonnie laddie, Highland laddie."
For more information on the Battle of Prestonpans see "Tranent Muir" and references there.
Graham: "[Hogg's "Geordie Sits in Charlie's Chair"] is horribly ludicrous, but we cannot give it entire, on account of the extreme coarseness of some of the stanzas. A modification of it is published in Mr. George Thomson's Collection, with two introductory stanzas not in Hogg's edition. The stanza beginning, "Weary fa' the Lawland loon," is the second in Hogg's copy." Except for changes in spelling, the Fowke and Graham/Thomson texts agree. - BS
Last updated in version 2.6
File: FowOn025

Go to the Ballad Search form
Go to the Ballad Index Song List

Go to the Ballad Index Instructions
Go to the Ballad Index Bibliography or Discography