Origins: The Campbells Are Coming (tune)

Subject: RE: Origins: The Campbells Are Coming (tune)
From: GUEST,PMB
Date: 10 Nov 24 - 03:33 PM

Well Biggles readers will remember "the Camels are coming". How sad is it to remember that?

Subject: RE: Origins: The Campbells Are Coming (tune)
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 10 Nov 24 - 11:55 AM

My Mum, rest her soul, was quite staid in her everyday dealings but occasionaly she used to sing some bawdy words to songs. One was 'The Red Flag' (The working class can kiss my arse, I've got a foreman's job at last) but coming back to The Campbells are coming she used to sing

"The Campbells are coming, they've been before
They piddled all over the kitchen floor"

That's the only line I recall her singing. I never thought anything of it until, many years later, I went to Glen Coe and learned that the Campbell clan were still hated up there! I know they did far worse than piddling on the floor but I remembered those words again. Now, a thread on Scottish music has reminded me again.

Anyone else know of this parody or any more words?

Subject: RE: Origins: The Campbells Are Coming (tune)
From: Lighter
Date: 28 Sep 22 - 09:23 PM

Robert Burns, who collaborated with Johnson on the Scots Musical Museum, is often credited with the lyrics - but his manuscript copy bears the   handwritten note "Mr. Burns' old words."

On May 16, 1846, black abolitionist Frederick Douglass wrote to Ruth Cox, who'd escaped from slavery, that he'd bought a fiddle, "brought it to the Hotel, and struck up 'Camels [sic] a-Coming.'"

Subject: RE: Origins: The Campbells Are Coming (tune)
From: Lighter
Date: 28 Sep 22 - 07:28 PM

Here are the words, from Johnson's "Scots Musical Museum" (1792):


THE CAMPBELLS ARE COMING

The Campbells are comin, Oho, Oho!
The Campbells are comin, Oho!
The Campbells are comin to bonie Lochleven!
The Campbells are comin, Oho, Oho!
Upon the Lomonds I lay, I lay,
Upon the Lomonds I lay, I lay,
I lookit down to bonie Lochleven,
And saw three bonie perches play.

Chorus:
The Campbells are comin, Oho, Oho!
The Campbells are comin, Oho!
The Campbells are comin to bonie Lochleven!
The Campbells are comin, Oho, Oho!

Great Argyle he goes before;
He makes his cannons and guns to roar;
Wi' sound o' trumpet, fife, and drum;
The Campbells are comin, Oho, Oho!
The Campbells they are a' in arms,
Their loyal faith and truth to show,
Wi' banners rattling in the wind;
The Campbells are comin', Oho, Oho!

Just what "perches" have to do with it seems to be anybody's guess. Presumably they symbolize something.

Subject: RE: Origins: The Campbells Are Coming (tune)
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 28 Sep 22 - 07:26 PM

It does indeed have lyrics, written by Robert Burns in 1790: I remember singing it in primary school! It uses something like the second tune in your link above, Joe.

THE CAMPBELLS ARE COMING

The Campbells are comin, Oho, Oho!
The Campbells are comin, Oho, Oho!
The Campbells are comin to bonie Lochleven,
The Campbells are comin Oho, Oho!

Upon the Lomonds I lay, I lay,
Upon the Lomonds I lay, I lay,
I looked down to bonie Lochleven,
And saw three bonie perches play.

Great Argyle he goes before,
He maks his cannons and guns to roar,
Wi' sound o' trumpet, pipe and drum
The Campbells are comin Oho, Oho!

The Campbells they are a' in arms
Their loyal faith and truth to show,
Wi' banners rattling in the wind
The Campbells are comin Oho, Oho!

The Campbells are comin, Oho, Oho!
The Campbells are comin, Oho, Oho!
The Campbells are comin to bonie Lochleven,
The Campbells are comin Oho, Oho!

Subject: RE: Origins: The Campbells Are Coming (tune)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 28 Sep 22 - 04:38 PM

Hi, Lighter - I combined your thread with the existing one on the song. There's some good stuff on the song at the Traditional Tune Archive:

https://tunearch.org/wiki/Campbells_are_Coming_(1)_(The)

I don't know that "Campbells Are Coming" has lyrics of its own, but it appears to have been used for a number of songs. A Google Search of Mudcat shows that the tune has been mentioned a number of times.

Tex Williams turned it into a country song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JyyeeOm6tY

Leroy Anderson, known for "The Typewriter" and other light classical pieces, did an orchestral arrangement of "The Campbells Are Coming: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4LQWZ-hQh8

As for your "camels" reference, I'm speechless....

Subject: The Campbells are Coming
From: Lighter
Date: 28 Sep 22 - 04:16 PM

Surprising that the Forum has so little on this familiar tune, which dates from at least 1757.

Here's a bit of folklore of the folk-etymology sort.

Macon [Mo.] Chronicle-Herald (Sept. 25, 1935):

"'The Camels is Comin' is one of the very old and very popular airs that have come down to us. It is supposed to have been inspired by the Arab camel drivers, and gives this call--'Heigh-ho!'"

Some may recall an ancient Bug Bunny cartoon in which a camel sings the (repeated) first line.

Subject: RE: Chord Req: The Campbells Are Coming
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 30 Apr 04 - 03:46 AM

"The Burnt Old Man" is in just about every "local" session book I've seen, occasionally cross-titled as "The Burdened Old Man." About the only "commercial" printing I know of is in The Portland Collection: Contra Dance Music in the Pacific Northwest, by Susan Songer with Clyde Curley, ISBN 0-9657476-0-3 for the 1st ed. It's apparently a "self-published" thing, but a few people were able to find Susan on the web a year or so ago, and got copies. My book shows Susan Songer at 503-293-1446, or [e-mail] for orders, but I can't guarantee those are still good.

I understand that the 2d edition (I have the first, © 1977) has a CD available with a lot of the tunes on it, although I don't know if they're all there.

I got my old copy from Dusty Strings, in Seattle, and it's been about my favorite source for tunes I like to play, since it's got a lot of good dance tunes that the bluegrassers haven't got hold of yet. It's fairly likely they may still carry copies of the new version.

There is another one called the Irish Session Book that includes it, but it's far less common, and I don't have publication data handy.

I believe I included that tune in my "rebuild" of the local session book a few years ago, and I made crude midis of all 806 of the tunes (604 titles with variations); but after about 6 years I finally "broke even" (actual cost recovered plus $0.27 - if you ignore time, blood, sweat, tears and gas carrying it to sessions) so I've cleared all the files. It would take an excavation to find them again.

John

Subject: RE: Chord Req: The Campbells Are Coming
From: Cruiser
Date: 29 Apr 04 - 09:08 PM

Okay, John, I concede. Thanks.

About the only difference I can see is:

TBOM is a jig in 6/8 meter.

TCAC can be a slip jig in 9/8 meter.

However, they both can be in 6/8 and played the same.

Thanks Masato.

Cruiser

Subject: RE: Chord Req: The Campbells Are Coming
From: masato sakurai
Date: 29 Apr 04 - 08:39 PM

For info on related tunes including "Burnt Old Man", see Result of search for "Campbells Are Coming" at The Fiddler's Companion.

Subject: RE: Chord Req: The Campbells Are Coming
From: Cruiser
Date: 29 Apr 04 - 05:34 PM

JIK,

Do you know where there is a sound file of the Burnt Old Man?

Thanks

Cruiser

Subject: RE: Chord Req: The Campbells Are Coming
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 29 Apr 04 - 04:36 PM

The tune that a couple of my books show as "Burnt Old Man" is the same melody as shown at the first Levy return for "Campbells Are Coming." The books I looked at are melody line only, and don't show chords.

Lots of these have more names than notes. I've even heard people call this one "The Henry J" because the tune was used for the automobile commercial back in the very early '50s.

John

Subject: RE: Chord Req: The Campbells Are Coming
From: Cruiser
Date: 29 Apr 04 - 10:39 AM

John, I think the tune you suggested is a different one.

Masato: as usual, thanks for your help. The American Memory link had many lyrical variations on the main theme. I did not see guitar chords though and that was what I should have requested. However, since I read music, I can figure them out from the sheet music or by noodling around on my guitar.

Thanks for those excellent links, the American Memory site was new to me.

Cruiser

Subject: RE: Chord Req: The Campbells Are Coming
From: masato sakurai
Date: 29 Apr 04 - 09:37 AM

Several editions of sheet music (with piano accompaniment) are found at the Levy collection and American Memory. Search for "Campbells Are Coming" and "Campbells Are Comin'."

Subject: RE: Chord Req: The Campbells Are Coming
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 29 Apr 04 - 09:14 AM

Cruiser -

If you're looking for the song I think you mean, the "trad" title (or at least one of them) for the tune is "The Burnt Old Man." You might have better luck searching by that title.

John

Subject: Chord Req: The Campbells Are Coming
From: Cruiser
Date: 28 Apr 04 - 07:32 PM

Does anyone have the chords for this tune?

I asked for this in another thread, but this one is probably more appropriate.

Thanks,
Cruiser