Digital Tradition Mirror

Hurrah, Hurrah, a Ranogate

Hurrah, Hurrah, a Ranogate

     1.

Hurrah, hurrah, a ranogate,

The nicht afore the fair,

The pipers in the Canongate,

The drums in the air.

     My mother gae me the keys to keep,
     To wauken me oot o' my mornin' sleep,
     The hens shall lay, and the cock shall craw,

Hurrah, hurrah, a ranogate.

     2.
     Aree, aree, a ranogate,
     The pipers in the Canongate,
     The drums in the air,
     The cock craws, the hen lays,
     The nicht afore the fair.

     3.
     Ree-a-ree, a ranigate,
     The pipers i' the Canigate,
     The drow is in the air;
     The cock craws, the hen lays,
     The nicht afore the fair.
     ________________________________________________________

     (1-2) James Cockburn on Selkirk rhymes, c. 1840, in SNQ
     IV.5 (Oct. 1890), 91.  With line 5 of (1), cf. "Babbity
     Bowster".  Ranogate is a nonce word, for the rhyme, but
     probably influenced by rinagate, "renegade".
     (3) Rymour Club Misc. I (1906-11), 175, from Dunbar.
     "The child who repeated this rhyme oftenest got the
     biggest fairing at the Dunbar Fair, held on the first
     Monday of February."



WBO
OCT98

Thanks to Mudcat for the Digital Tradition!