Listen up lads and lassies !

Cam ye o'er frae France is a fine Scottish Traditional folk song !

In 1714, a portly little fellow arrived in London from Hanover, in what is now Germany, and set up shop as the legally ordained ruler of Great Britain, though he spoke not a word of English. He was George I, the first of the Germans to have ruled there ever since. Anything for a Protestant king, the reasoning went; and so it was that when Queen Anne died without leaving an heir, the House of Hanover came to power.

When George I imported his seraglio of impoverished gentlewomen  from Germany, he provided the Jacobite songwriters with material for some of their most ribald verses. Madame Kilmansegge, Countess of Platen, is referred to exclusively as "The Sow" in the songs, while the King's favorite mistress, the lean and haggard Madame Schulemburg (afterwards Named Duchess of Kendall) was given the name of "The Goose". She is the "goosie" referred to in this song. The "blade" is the Count Koningsmark. "Bobbing John refers to John, Earl of Mar, who was at the time recruiting Highlanders for the Hanoverian cause. "Geordie Whelps" is, of course, George I himself.

For the academically inclined , see also:

http://cfmb.icaap.org/content/23.1/BV23-1art3.pdf

Many Jacobite songs are riddling - in part to steer clear of the laws against treason, and in part from a love of satirical wit that was widespread at the time throughout Great Britian. "Came Ye O'er Frae France?" is one of the most witty of the songs, and is packed with
cryptic metaphoricala nd allegorical referencesI. It is also a well-constructed piece of poetry, with each stanza carefully linked to the next. The song does not seem to haver received as much attention as it deserves,a defect that I hope to remedy with this article.

Try to get it right and if it did not do it for you.....it did for me.....but then mebbe it has to be part of your ancestral memory.

Strawdog( not watching royal weddings , y'follow ? )

Aberdeen

Listen up lads and lassies !

Cam ye o'er frae France is a fine Scottish Traditional folk song !

In 1714, a portly little fellow arrived in London from Hanover, in what is now Germany, and set up shop as the legally ordained ruler of Great Britain, though he spoke not a word of English. He was George I, the first of the Germans to have ruled there ever since. Anything for a Protestant king, the reasoning went; and so it was that when Queen Anne died without leaving an heir, the House of Hanover came to power.

When George I imported his seraglio of impoverished gentlewomen  from Germany, he provided the Jacobite songwriters with material for some of their most ribald verses. Madame Kilmansegge, Countess of Platen, is referred to exclusively as "The Sow" in the songs, while the King's favorite mistress, the lean and haggard Madame Schulemburg (afterwards Named Duchess of Kendall) was given the name of "The Goose". She is the "goosie" referred to in this song. The "blade" is the Count Koningsmark. "Bobbing John refers to John, Earl of Mar, who was at the time recruiting Highlanders for the Hanoverian cause. "Geordie Whelps" is, of course, George I himself.

For the academically inclined , see also:

http://cfmb.icaap.org/content/23.1/BV23-1art3.pdf

Many Jacobite songs are riddling - in part to steer clear of the laws against treason, and in part from a love of satirical wit that was widespread at the time throughout Great Britian. "Came Ye O'er Frae France?" is one of the most witty of the songs, and is packed with
cryptic metaphoricala nd allegorical referencesI. It is also a well-constructed piece of poetry, with each stanza carefully linked to the next. The song does not seem to haver received as much attention as it deserves,a defect that I hope to remedy with this article.

Try to get it right and if it did not do it for you.....it did for me.....but then mebbe it has to be part of your ancestral memory.

Strawdog( not watching royal weddings , y'follow ? )

Aberdeen