Bonnie Dundee

Bonnie Dundee is a poem and a song about John Graham, 7th Laird of Claverhouse, 1st Viscount Dundee who was known by this nickname. The song has been used as a regimental march by several Scottish regiments in the British Army and was adapted by Confederate troops in the American Civil War.

Background

John Graham, the laird of Claverhouse and 1st Viscount of Dundee was called "Bluidy Clavers" (Bloody Claverhouse) by his opponents, but Bonnie^[1] Dundee by his followers among the Jacobites. His nickname, "Bonnie", arose either from his exploits as a leader or that he was considered handsome.^[2] When William of Orange landed, beginning what is now known as the Glorious Revolution, Claverhouse was one of the few Scottish nobles who remained loyal to James VII of Scotland (James II of England). After trying to influence the Convention of Estates of Scotland on James's behalf, at some danger to himself, he led his cavalry out of Edinburgh to carry on the struggle in the field, and was killed at the moment of victory in the battle of Killiecrankie (1689). Over a century later he was immortalised in a poem by Walter Scott which was later adapted into a song.^[3]

Walter Scott's poem

On 22 December 1825 Scott wrote in his journal:

The air of ‘Bonnie Dundee’ running in my head today I [wrote] a few verses to it before dinner, taking the key-note from the story of Claverse leaving the Scottish Convention of Estates in 1688-9.^[4]

Scott sent a copy of the verses to his daughter-in-law Jane, mentioning that his great-grandfather had been among Claverhouse's followers and describing himself as "a most incorrigible Jacobite".^[5] This is a comic exaggeration, but Scott's ballad is certainly written from the point of view of Claverhouse, whom he had already celebrated in his novel Old Mortality (1816). It consists of eleven stanzas, which Scott admitted was "greatly too long" (Letters, vol. 9, p. 350), with a refrain copied from the traditional song Jockey's Escape from Dundee.^[6]

The poem was first published in a miscellany, The Christmas Box (1828-9), and then included as a song in Scott's unperformed play The Doom of Devorgoil (1830). Later adaptations for singing include only stanzas 1, 2, 8 and 10, with the refrain. After Scott's death, many changes were made in the text in different republications. Some add extra Scotticisms, e.g. "To the lords" becomes "Tae the lairds". The authentic long text below comes from The Poetical Works of Sir Walter Scott, Bart. (12 vols., 1833-4), ed. J. G. Lockhart (vol. 12, pp. 903-4).

Scott's original poem

To the Lords of Convention 'twas Clavers who spoke.

'Ere the King's crown shall fall there are crowns to be broke;

So let each Cavalier who loves honour and me,

Come follow the bonnet of Bonny Dundee.

Come fill up my cup, come fill up my can,

Come saddle your horses, and call up your men;

Come open the West Port and let me gang free,

And it's room for the bonnets of Bonny Dundee!

Dundee he is mounted, he rides up the street,

The bells are rung backward,^[7] the drums they are beat;

But the Provost, douce man, said, "Just e'en let him be,

The Gude Town^[8] is weel quit of that Deil of Dundee."

Come fill up my cup, etc.

As he rode down the sanctified bends of the Bow,

Ilk carline was flyting and shaking her pow;

But the young plants of grace they looked couthie and slee,

Thinking luck to thy bonnet, thou Bonny Dundee!

Come fill up my cup, etc.

With sour-featured Whigs the Grass-market was crammed,

As if half the West had set tryst to be hanged;

There was spite in each look, there was fear in each e'e,

As they watched for the bonnets of Bonny Dundee.

Come fill up my cup, etc.

These cowls of Kilmarnock had spits and had spears,

And lang-hafted gullies to kill cavaliers;

But they shrunk to close-heads and the causeway was free,

At the toss of the bonnet of Bonny Dundee.

Come fill up my cup, etc.

He spurred to the foot of the proud Castle rock,

And with the gay Gordon he gallantly spoke;

"Let Mons Meg and her marrows speak twa words or three,

For the love of the bonnet of Bonny Dundee."

Come fill up my cup, etc.

The Gordon demands of him which way he goes?

"Where'er shall direct me the shade of Montrose!

Your Grace in short space shall hear tidings of me,

Or that low lies the bonnet of Bonny Dundee.

Come fill up my cup, etc.

"There are hills beyond Pentland and lands beyond Forth,

If there's lords in the Lowlands, there's chiefs in the North;

There are wild Duniewassals three thousand times three,

Will cry hoigh! for the bonnet of Bonny Dundee.

Come fill up my cup, etc.

"There's brass on the target of barkened bull-hide;

There's steel in the scabbard that dangles beside;

The brass shall be burnished, the steel shall flash free,

At the toss of the bonnet of Bonny Dundee.

Come fill up my cup, etc.

"Away to the hills, to the caves, to the rocks

Ere I own an usurper, I'll couch with the fox;

And tremble, false Whigs, in the midst of your glee,

You have not seen the last of my bonnet and me!"

Come fill up my cup, etc.

He waved his proud hand, the trumpets were blown,

The kettle-drums clashed and the horsemen rode on,

Till on Ravelston's cliffs and on Clermiston's lee

Died away the wild war-notes of Bonny Dundee.

Come fill up my cup, come fill up my can,

Come saddle the horses, and call up the men,

Come open your gates, and let me gae free,

For it's up with the bonnets of Bonny Dundee!

The song

There are several versions of the song and a common one is given here.^[9]

1. Tae the lairds o' convention 'twas Claverhouse spoke

Ere the King's crown go down, there are crowns tae be broke;

Now let each cavalier wha loves honour and me

Come follow the bonnets o' bonnie Dundee.

Chorus:

Come fill up my cup, come fill up my can,

Come saddle my horses and call out my men.

And it's ope' the west port and let us gae free,

And we'll follow the bonnets o' bonnie Dundee!

2. Dundee he is mounted, he rides doon the street,

The bells they ring backwards, the drums they are beat,

But the Provost, (douce man!), says; Just e'en let him be

For the toon is weel rid of that de'il Dundee.

Chorus:

3. There are hills beyond Pentland and lands beyond Forth,

Be there lairds i' the south, there are chiefs i' the north!

And brave duine-uasals ("noble men", pron. doony wassals - Gaelic with English s plural), three thousand times three

Will cry "Hai!" for the bonnets o' bonnie Dundee.

Chorus:

4. We'll awa' tae the hills, tae the lea, tae the rocks

E'er I own a usurper, I'll couch wi' the fox!

So tremble, false Whigs, in the midst o' your glee,

For ye've naw seen the last o' my bonnets and me!

Chorus:

The tunes

To help Jane identify the tune, Scott gave a few lines from each of three songs for which it had been used. His first quotation is from Jockey's Escape from Dundee; the second is from Scots Callan o' Bonnie Dundee^[10] (though a version of these lines also appears in Jockey's Escape); and the third is from John Gay, The Beggar's Opera (1728; Air LVII, The Charge is prepar'd).

The transcriptions of the tune for different sets of words vary both in notes and in rhythmic phrasing. The version in The Beggar's Opera differs most widely, with most of the dotted rhythms smoothed out into a regular succession of crotchets. We cannot say whether Scott had any particular variation in mind; he professed to have a good ear for time but little or none for tune.^[11] All are in a minor key, and their melancholy and their subtle rhythms will surprise anyone familiar only with the setting now best known.

This later setting, with its cheerful major key and cantering rhythm, suits both the spirit of Scott's lines and their metre, and makes an excellent cavalry march. Scott might well have approved: he intended the verses "to be sung a la militaire" and not as the song is in The Beggars Opera.^[12][9] In this tune, too, variations occur in different publications.

The origin of this immensely popular tune is uncertain. It makes use of the Lombard rhythm or "Scotch snap", and may owe something to Scottish folk-song. It seems first to have been used about 1850 and was associated with the contralto and composer Charlotte Dolby, later Sainton-Dolby (1821-85). The sheet music of Bonnie Dundee was published by Boosey & Sons as "sung by Miss Dolby" and (after 1860) "sung by Madame Sainton-Dolby", but Boosey credits her only with performing the song and arranging the accompaniment; no composer is named, and Boosey lists the piece as a Scotch Air. However, Bonnie Dundee has been included among Dolby's works.^[13]

It has been suggested that the melody comes from a piano piece called The Band at a Distance, and that it was Dolby who first combined this tune with Scott's words.^[14] A score for piano or harp called The Band at a Distance, by Nicolas-Charles Bochsa, was published by Walker & Son c. 1830, but has no resemblance to Bonnie Dundee.

In the Scottish Orpheus (1897), Adam Hamilton gives the song as "Composed by Dr E. F. Rimbault. Arranged by Edward Rimbault Dibdin" (p. 52). This attribution has not been confirmed. Edward Francis Rimbault (1816-1876) was a prolific writer of and about music, but his songs are not listed separately in any bibliography. His name sometimes appears as having "arranged" Bonnie Dundee.^[15]

It is a very old Scottish folk-tune used for at least fifteen songs,^[16] some of which refer to the city as "Bonnie Dundee"

Marches

The song is the authorized regimental march for the following Canadian regiments:^[17]

• The Royal Canadian Horse Artillery (gallop past)
• 1st Hussars
• The Brockville Rifles
• The Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry Highlanders
• The Loyal Edmonton Regiment (4th Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry)
• The Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders of Canada (D Company)^[18]

It is used by several British cavalry regiments and the Royal Horse Artillery.

Parodies

The song was parodied by Lewis Carroll in Through the Looking-Glass and by Rudyard Kipling in The Jungle Book.

Lewis Carroll

From Chapter IX of Through the Looking-Glass:

To the Looking-Glass world it was Alice that said

"I've a sceptre in hand, I've a crown on my head.

Let the Looking-Glass creatures, whatever they be

Come dine with the Red Queen, the White Queen and Me!"

Then fill up the glasses as quick as you can,

And sprinkle the table with buttons and bran:

Put cats in the coffee, and mice in the tea--

And welcome Queen Alice with thirty-times-three!

"O Looking-Glass creatures," quoth Alice, "draw near!

'Tis an honour to see me, a favour to hear:

'Tis a privilege high to have dinner and tea

Along with the Red Queen, the White Queen, and Me!"

Then fill up the glasses with treacle and ink,

Or anything else that is pleasant to drink:

Mix sand with the cider, and wool with the wine--

And welcome Queen Alice with ninety-times-nine!

Rudyard Kipling

From "Parade Song of the Camp Animals", which follows the story "Her Majesty's Servants", in The Jungle Book:

By the brand on my shoulder, the finest of tunes

Is played by the Lancers, Hussars, and Dragoons,

And it's sweeter than "Stables" or "Water" to me--

The Cavalry Canter of "Bonnie Dundee"!

Then feed us and break us and handle and groom,

And give us good riders and plenty of room,

And launch us in column of squadron and see

The way of the war-horse to "Bonnie Dundee"!

American Civil War

Riding a Raid (Traditional)

During the American Civil War traditional English, Irish, and Scottish songs were often sung or modified. The Confederates did this very often. The song Riding a Raid takes place during the 1862 Antietam Campaign. J.E.B. Stuart's Confederate cavalry set off on a screening movement on the flank of Robert E. Lee's army in order to give Lee time to prepare his army to meet the Union Army after Northern general George B. McClellan had gained information on Lee's location and plans. The Campaign would culminate in the battle of Antietam, or Sharpsburg as the Confederates called it. This would be the bloodiest day in American history and while the battle was indecisive, Lee was forced to abandon any hope of continuing the campaign.

Riding a Raid

'Tis old Stonewall the Rebel that leans on his sword,

And while we are mounting prays low to the Lord:

"Now each cavalier that loves honor and right,

Let him follow the feather of Stuart tonight."

Chorus:

Come tighten your girth and slacken your rein;

Come buckle your blanket and holster again;

Try the click of your trigger and balance your blade,

For he must ride sure that goes riding a raid.

Now gallop, now gallop to swim or to ford!

Old Stonewall, still watching, prays low to the Lord:

"Goodbye, dear old Rebel! The river's not wide,

And Maryland's lights in her window to guide."

Chorus:

There's a man in the White House with blood on his mouth!

If there's knaves in the North, there are braves in the South.

We are three thousand horses, and not one afraid;

We are three thousand sabres and not a dull blade.

Chorus:

Then gallop, then gallop by ravines and rocks!

Who would bar us the way take his toll in hard knocks;

For with these points of steel, on the line of the Penn

We have made some fine strokes -- and we'll make 'em again

Chorus:

References