Scottish Country Dancing Dictionary

There Cam' A Young Man (Mitchell)

Scottish Country Dance Instruction

THERE CAM' A YOUNG MAN (J8x32) 3C (4C set) John W Mitchell Whetherly Book 7

1- 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)


Keith Rose's Crib Diagram


Dance Information

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
Brisk Young Lad, From The Book Of Scottish Songs, Page 359


Published in The Whetherly Book Of Scottish Country Dances Number 7, reproduced here under this Creative Commons Attribution - NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Image from The Book of Scottish Song, 1843, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

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