Ye Jacobites by Name
"Ye Jacobites by Name" (Roud # 5517) is a traditional Scottish folk song which goes back to the Jacobite Risings in Scotland (1688–1746). While the original version simply attacked the Jacobites from a contemporaneous Whig point of view, Robert Burns rewrote it in around 1791 to give a version with a more general, humanist anti-war outlook. This is the version that most people know today.[1][2]
The song (no. 371) was published in 1793 in volume 4 of James Johnson's Scots Musical Museum[3] and in James Hogg's Jacobite Reliques of 1817 (no. 34).[4] It also appears in a collection of Scottish songs entitled Personal Choice by Ewan MacColl.[5] The tune[6] is taken from "My Love's in Germany" by Hector Macneill.
Robert Burns's version
This is the version in Johnson's, Hogg's and MacColl's collections:
Ye Jacobites by name, give an ear, give an ear,
Ye Jacobites by name, give an ear,
Ye Jacobites by name,
Your fautes I will proclaim,
Your doctrines I maun blame, you shall hear, you shall hear
Your doctrines I maun blame, you shall hear.
What is Right, and What is Wrang, by the law, by the law?
What is Right and what is Wrang by the law?
What is Right, and what is Wrang?
A weak arm and a strang,
A short sword, and a lang, for to draw, for to draw
A short sword, and a lang, for to draw.
What makes heroic strife, famed afar, famed afar?
What makes heroic strife famed afar?
What makes heroic strife?
To whet th' assassin's knife,
Or haunt a Parent's life, wi' bluidy war?
Then let your schemes alone, in the state, in the state,
Then let your schemes alone in the state.
So let your schemes alone,
Adore the rising sun,
And leave a man undone, to his fate, to his fate.
And leave a man undone, to his fate.
Original lyrics
You Jacobites by Name, lend an ear, lend an ear, With the Pope you covenant, as they say, as they say, Your Prince and Duke o'Perth, where they go, where they go, He is the King of Reef, I'll declare, I'll declare, They marched thro' our Land cruelly, cruelly, To Preston then they came, in a Rout, in a Rout, To England then they went, as bold, as bold, |
To London as they went, on the Way, on the Way, They turned from that Place, and they ran, and they ran, To Scotland then they came, when they fly, when they fly, When Duke William does command, you must go, you must go; Tho' Carlisle ye took by the Way, by the Way; The Pope and Prelacy, where they came, where they came, |
Recordings
Many musicians, including many international bands, have recorded Ye Jacobites, including:
- Owen Hand, on his second album I Loved a Lass (1966)
- The Johnstons, on The Barley Corn (1969)
- The Corries, on Live at the Royal Lyceum (1971)
- Tri Yann, on their debut album (1972)
- Tempest, on Surfing To Mecca (1994) as "You Jacobites By Name"
- Seven Nations (then known as Clan Na Gael), on Old Ground (1995)
- Billy Bragg rewrote the lyrics to refer to "Thatcherites" on the EP Bloke on Bloke (1996)
- Fiddler's Green, a German "Independent Irish Speed-Folk" band, on On and On (1997) as "Jacobites"
- Connemara Stone Company, on For One Irland (1998)
- Beth Patterson played a version of it using the Irish bouzouki on Hybrid Vigor (1999)
- Eddi Reader, on The Songs Of Robert Burns (2003)
- Shannon, a Polish Celtic music group, on Green Hypnosis (2003), as guitar ballad,
- Quilty, a band from Sweden, on I'm Here Because I'm Here (2005)
- Beltaine, a Polish Celtic music group, on KoncenTrad (2007)
- Clachán, on Clachán (2008)
- Sherwood, on Sweet Joan (2010)
- Noel McLoughlin, on 20 Best of Scotland (2006)
- Glenfiddle, on The lonesome boatman (2005)
- Stone Clover, Irish folk band from Detroit, Michigan "Ye Jacobites by Name" on the album "Sloppy Drunk Live" (2013)
- Alzamantes, a balfolk-rock band from Italy, on the album "Tenetevi. Forte" (2014)
- Scocha
References
- ↑ chivalry.com, Ye Jacobites By Name
- ↑ mysongbook.de
- ↑ Johnson, James (1793). Scots Musical Museum: volume 4. Edinburgh: James Johnson. p. 383.
- ↑ Hogg, James (1819). The Jacobite relics: volume 1. Edinburgh: William Blackwood. p. 264.
- ↑ Ewan MacColl: 1915-1989 A Political Journey on the Internet Archive
- ↑ The Contemplator's version with midi file
External links
- Digitised copy of volumes 1 and 2 of The Relics of Jacobite Scotland by James Hogg, printed between 1819 and 1821, from National Library of Scotland. JPEG, PDF, XML versions.
- Digitised copy of Scots Musical Museum by James Johnson printed between 1787 and 1803, from National Library of Scotland. JPEG, PDF, XML versions.