The White Cockade
Scottish Song By Robert Burns
The White Cockade (also known as My Love Was Born In Aberdeen) was written by Robert Burns in 1790 and set to the music, a Scottish measure called "The White Cockade", which may predate the song by over a century. Other tunes have been used, including one by Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809) also called "The White Cockade".The white cockade became the distinctive emblem of the Jacobites, probably worn by Bonnie Prince Charlie's soldiers in the 1745 rebellion, during which the Jacobites attempted to restore the Stuarts to the Scottish throne.
"He takes the field" is a reference to joining the army in the field of battle.
As ever with such a popular old song, many versions exist of both the words and tune. Here below is the version published in The Book of Scottish Song (1843) edited by Alexander Whitelaw.
Related Scottish Country Dances
The White CockadeThe White Cockade By Robert Burns
My love was born in Aberdeen,
The bonniest kid that e'er was seen;
But now he makes our hearts fu' sad-
He's ta'en the field wi' his white cockade.
Chorus
O, he's a ranting, roving blade!
O, he's a brisk and a bonny lad!
Betide what may, my heart is glad
To see my lad wi' his white cockade.
O, leeze me on the philabeg,
The hairy hough, and garter'd leg!
But aye the thing that glads my e'e,
Is the white cockade aboon the bree.
I'll sell my rock, I'll sell my reel,
My rippling kame, and spinning wheel,
To buy my lad a tartan plaid,
A braidsword and a white cockade.
I'll sell my rokely and my tow,
My gude gray mare and hawket cow,
That ev'ry loyal Buchan lad
May tak' the field wi' his white cockade.
The White Cockade Song Video
The White Cockade Song - Information Video
The White Cockade, From Glen Collection Of Printed Music, Scotish Song In Two Volumes, Volume 2, Page 430, c. 1869
The Online Scots Dictionary Translate Scots To English.
This page uses content under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, along with original copyrighted content and excerpts from Wikipedia and other sources.
Text from this original The White Cockade article on Wikisource.
Image from (cropped) National Library Of Scotland, licensed under Creative Commons BY-SA 4.0.