Digital Tradition Mirror

Cam Ye O'er Frae France

(This score available as ABC, SongWright, PostScript, PNG, or PMW, or a MIDI file)
Pennywhistle notation and Dulcimer tab for this song is also available

Cam Ye O'er Frae France

Cam ye o'er frae France?
Cam ye down by Lunnon?
Saw ye Geordie Whelps
And his bonny woman?
Were ye at the place
Ca'd the Kittle Housie?
Saw ye Geordie's grace
Riding on a goosie?

Geordie he's a man
There is little doubt o't;
He's done a' he can
Wha can do without it?
Down there came a blade
Linkin' like my lordie;
He wad drive a trade
At the loom o' Geordie.

Though the claith were bad,
Blythly may we niffer;
Gin we get a wab,
It makes little differ.
We hae tint our plaid,
Bannet, belt and swordie,
Ha's and mailins braid --
But we hae a Geordie!

Jocky's gane to France,
And Montgomery's lady;
There they'll learn to dance:
Madame, are ye ready?
They'll be back belyue
Belted, brisk and lordly;
Brawly may they thrive
To dance a jig wi' Geordie!

Hey for Sandy Don!
Hey for Cockolorum!
Hey for Bobbing John,
And his Highland Quorum!
Mony a sword and lance
Swings at Highland hurdie;
How they'll skip and dance
O'er the bum o' Geordie!

Note: 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. MJ

Lunnon=London; Kittle Housie=Brothel; Linkin=Tripping along; Claith=Cloth;
Niffer=Haggle; Gin=If; Wab=Web (or length) of cloth; Tint=Lost; Ha's and
Mailins=Houses and Farmlands; Gane=Gone;=Belyve=Quickly; Brawly=Wall;
Hurdie=Buttock

Recorded by Ewan MacColl on Jacobite Songs and Black and White; Gaughan
  on No More Forever; Steeleye Span on Parcel of Rogues

SOF

Thanks to Mudcat for the Digital Tradition!