Up They Gaed a-Gallopin
Up they gaed a-gallopin, gallopin;
Up they gaed a-wallopin, wallopin;
`Deil tak the hindmost!' quo Duncan MacAlapine,
Laird o' Killiben-jo.
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Nicht at Eenie (1932), 34.
A memorial version of the first chorus of "Duncan McCallpin",
otherwise called "The Tranent Wedding", published in Poems
chiefly in the Scottish Dialect, by Peter Forbes, a gardener
at Dalkeith (Edinburgh, 1812). The subject is the "riding of
the broose" at a country wedding: a race (on foot if a short
distance, on horse if far) from the bride's home to her new
one, the winner getting a kiss from the bride, being allowed
to welcome her to her married house, and having the first
dance. The original first stanza and chorus are:
It was at a wedding near Tranent,
Where scores an' scores on fun were bent,
An' to ride the broose wi' full intent,
Was either nine or ten, jo!
Then aff they a' set galloping, galloping,
Legs an' arms a walloping, walloping,
Shame take the hindmost, quo' Duncan McCallpin
Laird o' Jelly Ben, jo.
This has been modified after an imitation called "Duncan
McCallagan", probably by Archibald Cochrane of Glasgow:
'Twas for a peck o' meal or mair,
Ae night, when coming frae the fair,
That Duncan laid, wi' his grey mare,
To rin wi' nine or ten, jo.
Then aff they set a-galloping, galloping,
Legs and arms a-walloping, walloping,
"Deil tak' the last!" quo' Duncan MacCallagan,
Laird o' Tullyben, jo.
[Ross SSCA (1870), 367: McCallapin...Tullyben; Whitelaw BSS
(1875), 506, and Ford VSB I (1899), 40, the 1812 version, and
Cochrane's parody, with slight differences.] The tune is The
Brisk Young Lad, i.e. Bung Your Eye (John Walsh's Caledonian
Country Dances, c. 1740, and the same date in the Bodleian
MS.; Robert Ross, Choice Coll. of Scots Reels, 1780, 1; and
frequently since). The first title is from words to the tune
in Herd 1776, often called "The Cauldrife Wooer".
MS
APR99
Thanks to Mudcat for the Digital Tradition!