There Cam' A Young Man (Mitchell)
Scottish Country Dance Instruction
THERE CAM' A YOUNG MAN (J8x32) 3C (4C set) John W Mitchell Whetherly Book 71- 8 1s+2s dance R&L ending with 1M and 2L facing out (no polite turn)
9-16 Reels of 3 on sides, 2s+3s pass RSh to start
17-24 1s cross RH, cast as 2s dance up to top. 2s cast as 1s cross up to top place own side. 1s ½ turn 2s (Men LH, Ladies RH)
25-32 2s+1s+3s circle 6H round and back
(MINICRIB. Dance crib compiled by Charles Upton, Deeside Caledonian Society, and his successors)
There Cam' A Young Man A thirty-two bar Jig for three couples in a longwise set, devised by John W Mitchell, published in Whetherly Book 7.
1- 8 First and second couples dance rights and lefts, first man and second lady finish facing out by not completing the polite turn on bar 8.
9-16 First, second and third couples dance a reel of three on the sides of the set, second and third couples pass by the right shoulder to commence the reel.
17-20 First couple cross over giving right hand and cast off into second place, second couple dance up to first place, with nearer hand, on bars 19-20.
21-22 Second couple cast off whilst first couple cross to first place on own side.
23-24 First and second ladies turn half way with the right hand to change places, whilst first and second men turn half way with the left hand to change places.
25-32 First, second and third couples dance six hands round in a circle to the left and back to the right.
Repeat from second place.
Recommended tune: There Cam' A Young Man
(Dance crib reproduced from The Whetherly Book Of Scottish Country Dances, revised and republished by Alison Mitchell)
Keith Rose's Crib Diagram
Dance Information
Also see the dance There Cam' A Young Man (Boyd) by Iain Boyd.This dance takes its title from a line in the The Brisk Young Lad - Song, published in 1776 and also known as The Cauldrife Wooer.
The song is narrated by a young woman and tells of a young man who comes courting but drinks too much, falls asleep and fails in his wooing. "Cam'" is Scots for "came", while "cauldrife" means cold or lacking warmth.
There cam' a young man to my daddie's door.
My daddie's door, my daddie's door;
There cam' a young man to my daddie's door,
Cam' seeking me to woo.
The Brisk Young Lad Song - Information Video
Brisk Young Lad, From The Book Of Scottish Songs, Page 359
Published in The Whetherly Book Of Scottish Country Dances Number 7, by John W Mitchell, revised and republished by Alison Mitchell; instructions reproduced under the Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Licence (CC BY-ND 4.0).
Image from The Book of Scottish Song, 1843, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.