Bonnie Dundee is the title of a poem and a song written by Walter Scott in 1825 in honour of John Graham, 7th Laird of Claverhouse, who was created 1st Viscount Dundee in November 1688, then in 1689 led a Jacobite rising in which he died, becoming a Jacobite hero.
The older tune Bonny Dundee adapted by Scott had already been used for several songs appearing under variations of that title and referring to the town of Dundee rather than to Claverhouse. Scott's song has been used as a regimental march by several Scottish regiments in the British Army, as well as the official Canter for the Royal Horse Artillery.
Bonny Dundee: tunes and songs Bonny Dundee is a very old Scottish folk-tune used for at least fifteen songs.See Nigel Gatherer, Songs and Ballads of Dundee (John Donald, Edinburgh, 1986), p. 131. A simpler version of the tune appears in the Skene manuscript around 1630 under the title Adew, Dundee. The title Bonny Dundee for the tune appears in an appendix to John Playford's 1688 edition of The Dancing Master, an English publication. The tune has been used for the following popular song:The songs of Scotland prior to Burns. With the tunes, edited by Robert Chambers (Edinburgh: W. & R. Chambers, 1862) [Shelfmark: Hall.275.d], Robert Chambers, pp. 132–135 [to be formatted] O whaur gat ye that hauver-meal bannock? Silly blind body, O dinna ye see? I gat it frae a brisk sodger laddie, Atween Saint Johnstone and Bonnie Dundee.
O, gin I saw the laddie that gae me't! Aft has he doudl'd me on o' his knee. But now he's awa', and I dinner ken whaur he's, O gin he was back to his minnie and me!
"Saint Johnstone" refers to Perth, and "Bonny Dundee" is the town of Dundee. This song was parodied in English publications of the early 18th century with coarser wording, under the title Jockey's Deliverance, or the Valiant Escape from Dundee, to be sung "to an Excellent Tune, called Bonny Dundee." A 1719 collection titled the parody Jockey's Escape from Dundee; and the Parsons Daughter whom he had Mowd, and its chorus featured variations on "Come open the Gates, and let me go free, And shew me the way to bonny Dundee". Robert Burns rewrote the second verse of the original, so that the latter lines were "May Heaven protect my Bonnie Scots laddie, and send him safe hame to his baby and me." He added a concluding verse with the promise to the baby to "bigg a bower on yon bonnie banks, where Tay rins dimpling by sae clear", alluding to the River Tay. Another version of the original, titled Scots Callan O' Bonnie Dundee, refers to a callant (lad) rather than a soldier, and a "bonnie blue bonnet" instead of a bannock.Broadside ballad entitled 'Scots Callan O' Bonnie Dundee', published around 1890–1900
The tune is used for unrelated words in a broadside ballad published in 1701 under the title Bonny Dundee, suggesting that it was to be sung to this melody, and in John Gay's The Beggar's Opera published in 1765.p. 87 of The Beggar's Opera written by Mr. Gay, London : Printed for J. and R. Tonson, 1765.
Graham of Claverhouse From 1668 John Graham, the laird of Claverhouse was at the forefront of Royalist repression of the Covenanters, for which he was called "Bluidy Clavers" (Bloody Claverhouse) by his covenanting opponents. In 1688 he was made 1st Viscount of Dundee by James VII of Scotland (James II of England). When William of Orange overturned James in 1688 in what was called the Glorious Revolution, Claverhouse was one of the few Scottish nobles who remained loyal to James. 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). His forces were subsequently defeated at the Battle of Dunkeld. Over a century later he was immortalised in a poem by Walter Scott which was later adapted into a song.
Walter Scott's poem Walter Scott's novel Old Mortality, published in 1816, gives a sympathetic portrait of Claverhouse. The story mentions one of Claverhouse's troopers "humming the lively Scottish air, 'Between Saint Johnstone and Bonny Dundee, I'll gar ye be fain to follow me'." In this, "Saint Johnstone" refers to Perth, and "Bonny" was the common description of the town of Dundee before Scott transferred the description to Claverhouse.
On 22 December 1825 Scott wrote in his journal:
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".The Letters of Sir Walter Scott, ed. H. J. C. Grierson (12 vols., Constable, 1932-7), vol. 9, p. 355 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.For this song see Thomas D’Urfey, ed. Wit and Mirth: or Pills to Purge Melancholy (1719-20); p. 17 in the 1876 reprint, reproduced in facsimile by the Folklore Library (New York, 1959)
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 Bonnie Dundee.
(chorus) 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 gae free, And it's room for the bonnets of Bonnie Dundee!
Dundee he is mounted, he rides up the street, The bells are rung backward,To ring the bells backward refers to pealing them in the reverse order to sound an alarm. the drums they are beat; But the Provost, douce man, said, "Just e'en let him be, The Gude TownEdinburgh is weel quit of that De'il Dundee."
(chorus)
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 Bonnie Dundee!
(chorus)
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 Bonnie Dundee.
(chorus)
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 Bonnie Dundee.
(chorus)
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 Bonnie Dundee."
(chorus)
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.
(chorus)
"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 Duniwassals three thousand times three, Will cry high! For the bonnet of Bonnie Dundee.
(chorus)
"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 Bonnie Dundee.
(chorus)
"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!"
(chorus)
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 Bonnie 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 Bonnie Dundee! The song There are several versions of the song and a common one is given here.Bonnie Dundee at Folk Songs from Digital Tradition (retrieved 17.10.10).
Tae the Lords of Convention 'twas Claverhouse spoke E'er the Kings crown go down, there'll be crowns to be broke; Then let each cavalier who loves honour and me Come follow the bonnet o' Bonnie Dundee.
(Chorus): Come fill up my cup, come fill up my can Saddle my horses and call out my men And it's Ho! for the west port and let us gae free, And we'll follow the bonnets o' bonnie Dundee!
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 well rid of that de'il o' Dundee."
(Chorus):
There are hills beyond Pentland and lands beyond Forth, Be there Lords 'n the south, there are Chiefs 'n the north! There are brave Duniwassals, three thousand times three Will cry "Ho!" For the bonnets o' Bonnie Dundee.
(Chorus):
Then awa' to the hills, to the lea, to the rocks E'er I own a usurper, I'll couch wi' the fox! Then tremble, false Whigs, in the midst o' your glee Ye ha' no seen the last o' my bonnets and me.
(Chorus):
Scott's attribution of the tune 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 DundeeGatherer, pp. 120-1, 131. Robert Burns had already written his own Bonie Dundee, a shortened version of Scots Callan, to the same tune; see The Poems and Songs of Robert Burns, ed. James Kinsley (3 vols., Clarendon Press, 1968). vol. 1, p. 338. (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.Letters, vol. 9, p. 356 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.Letters, vol. 9, p. 350 In this tune, too, variations occur in different publications.