PALM BEACH PIPES & DRUMS
Bonnie Charlie
"Bonnie Charlie", commonly known as "Will ye no come back again?", is a Scots poem by Carolina Oliphant (Lady Nairne), set to a traditional Scottish folk tune. As in several of the author's poems (she was known for "saccharine imitations of Jacobite song") its theme is the aftermath of the Jacobite Rising of 1745, which ended at the Battle of Culloden. Written well after the events it commemorates, it is not a genuine Jacobite song, like many other songs that were "composed in the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, but ... passed off as contemporary products of the Jacobite risings."
Lady Nairne came from a Jacobite family, and Prince Charles had stopped to dine at Nairne House on 4 September 1745, during the march toEdinburgh. Her father was exiled the year after, but the family "hoarded" a number of objects "supposedly given to him by Prince Charles."
The song, especially its melody, is widely and traditionally used as a song of farewell - often in association with Auld Lang Syne, and generally with no particular Jacobite or other political intent.
Lyrics
1. Bonnie Charlie's noo awa
Safely o'er the friendly main;
He'rts will a'most break in twa
Should he no' come back again.
Chorus
Will ye no' come back again?
Will ye no' come back again?
Better lo'ed ye canna be
Will ye no' come back again?
2. Ye trusted in your Hieland men
They trusted you, dear Charlie;
They kent you hiding in the glen,
Your cleadin' was but barely.
(Chorus)
3. English bribes were a' in vain
An' e'en tho puirer we may be
Siller canna buy the heart
That beats aye for thine and thee.
(Chorus)
4. We watch'd thee in the gloamin' hour
We watch'd thee in the mornin' grey
Tho' thirty thousand pound they'd gi'e
Oh, there is nane that wad betray.
(Chorus)
5. Sweet's the laverock's note and lang,
Liltin' wildly up the glen,
But aye to me he sings ane sang,
Will ye no come back again?
(Chorus)
"Bonnie Charlie", commonly known as "Will ye no come back again?", is a Scots poem by Carolina Oliphant (Lady Nairne), set to a traditional Scottish folk tune. As in several of the author's poems (she was known for "saccharine imitations of Jacobite song") its theme is the aftermath of the Jacobite Rising of 1745, which ended at the Battle of Culloden. Written well after the events it commemorates, it is not a genuine Jacobite song, like many other songs that were "composed in the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, but ... passed off as contemporary products of the Jacobite risings."
Lady Nairne came from a Jacobite family, and Prince Charles had stopped to dine at Nairne House on 4 September 1745, during the march toEdinburgh. Her father was exiled the year after, but the family "hoarded" a number of objects "supposedly given to him by Prince Charles."
The song, especially its melody, is widely and traditionally used as a song of farewell - often in association with Auld Lang Syne, and generally with no particular Jacobite or other political intent.
Lyrics
1. Bonnie Charlie's noo awa
Safely o'er the friendly main;
He'rts will a'most break in twa
Should he no' come back again.
Chorus
Will ye no' come back again?
Will ye no' come back again?
Better lo'ed ye canna be
Will ye no' come back again?
2. Ye trusted in your Hieland men
They trusted you, dear Charlie;
They kent you hiding in the glen,
Your cleadin' was but barely.
(Chorus)
3. English bribes were a' in vain
An' e'en tho puirer we may be
Siller canna buy the heart
That beats aye for thine and thee.
(Chorus)
4. We watch'd thee in the gloamin' hour
We watch'd thee in the mornin' grey
Tho' thirty thousand pound they'd gi'e
Oh, there is nane that wad betray.
(Chorus)
5. Sweet's the laverock's note and lang,
Liltin' wildly up the glen,
But aye to me he sings ane sang,
Will ye no come back again?
(Chorus)
Proudly powered by Weebly