Lyr Req: Up an' Waur Them A', Willie

Subject: Hunting for Up an' Waur 'em, a', Willie
From: Jennifer Burdoo
Date: 12 Oct 98 - 04:44 PM

Hi, I'm trying to find the lyrics to this song which I heard on the Battlefield Band album, 'Home Is Where the Van Is.' There are lyrics to a similar song, Up & Waur em a, Jamie, in the database, but they don't look familiar, and the meter isn't right either. The tune is mentioned in the notes, though. I have been looking for the words to this for a long time and can't translate the Scots accents, so any help is appreciated.

Jennifer Burdoo

Subject: RE: Hunting for Up an' Waur 'em, a', Willie
From: Bruce O.
Date: 12 Oct 98 - 07:13 PM

There's another in DT. DT's WARNWILI is 'Scots Musical Museum', II, #188, where it appears with the tune. This Robet Burns recasting of a song in 'The Charmer,' 1752, into on on the rebellion of 1715. I don't have a complete copy of The Charmer text, but the 1st verse is the same as that in James Hogg's 'Jacobite Relics', II #5, 1821, and has the same number of verses, so is probably the same. In his notes Hogg says that the song was probably woven around the chorus of some older song, and that there was no 'Willie' of note in the whole Jacobite army (but what rebellion is he talking about?). The tune is found in Walsh's Caledonian Country Dances, bk. 3, c 1740.

There's an entirely different song in a chapbook, 'Three Excellent New Songs', c 1746, and it's not from the Jacobite, but from the Loyalist side:

"The Loyal Subject's Joy for Duke William's Victory over the Rebels". This starts:

Now tune your Pipe, and dance your Fill,
Wi Mirth and meikle Glee, Laddie
For Cumberland is now come down
Frae Rome to set us free, Laddie
[Cho:]Up and war them a' Willie,
Up and war them a' Willie.
Fair fa' the Lad that fears nae Skaith
'Mang Dales and Hills of Snaw, Laddie.

In NLS MS Adv. 19.3.44 is a song of 11 verses which commences:[Chorus first]

Up and rin your' wa' Willie
Up and rin your wa's
Cullodens Lawrells you have lost
That gain'd you such applause
A check of conscience for your crimes
That stings you to the Saul willie
Has broke your measures this Campaign
As much as Lewendhal's willie
Up and rin, &c.

Subject: RE: Hunting for Up an' Waur 'em, a', Willie
From: Jennifer Burdoo
Date: 12 Oct 98 - 09:42 PM

WarnWili looks closer to the Battlefield Band version (I do recognize parts of some verses), but still seems somewhat disorganized and certainly difficult to sing as shown. Major differences include the fact that "Willie" (or "Laddie," or whatever the protagonist) is inserted in the middle of the verses, at the end of every other line:

When we gaed to the braes o' Mar, And to the wapon-shaw, Willie, Wi' true design to serve the king And banish whigs awa, Willie.

The "Willies" in the 2nd and 4th lines are not present in the verses as presented by Battlefield Band, and the tune used doesn't seem to allow for them either. In addition, the chorus should look something like my admittedly bad transcription below. (I'm a Yiddish-American with bad hearing).

Up an' waur 'em, a', Willie, Up an' waur 'em a', Up an' sell your sour milk(?) And dance and ding(?) them a'

BTW, anyone know what the heck this chorus is supposed to mean? What does milk have to do with a rebellion?

Thanks, Jennifer

Subject: RE: Hunting for Up an' Waur 'em, a', Willie
From: Bruce O.
Date: 12 Oct 98 - 10:00 PM

Your chorus identifies your version as the Charmer?/Jacobite Relics version. Hogg's 2 vols have been reprinted by AMS Press in New York.

Subject: RE: Hunting for Up an' Waur 'em, a', Willie
From: Jennifer
Date: 13 Oct 98 - 01:07 PM

Bruce:

Thanks, I found it in the campus library and it's the right one.

Jennifer

Subject: RE: Hunting for Up an' Waur 'em, a', Willie
From: Bruce O.
Date: 13 Oct 98 - 02:26 PM

I think I see now why Hogg thought the song in 'The Charmer' (2nd ed.), 1752, borrowed the chorus of an older song. I found in my notes on songbooks that I'd seen the song in the 3rd. ed., 1765. There is no title for the song; the heading is "Tune - Up and war 'em a' Willy".

Subject: RE: Hunting for Up an' Waur 'em, a', Willie
From: Moira Cameron
Date: 15 Oct 98 - 07:48 PM

I know a very different version of this song. I learned it off of a CBC recording by the Toronto duo Muddy York. It was called "Up an' Waur them a', Willie" but it was about William Lyon Mackenzie and the Mackenzie Rebellion in Lower Canada in 1837.

Let's see if I can remember the lyrics:

Chorus:

Up an' waur them a', Willie, up an' waur them a'; Better brave the tyrant's frown than let thy country fall. (Repeat)

The patriots of this infant land have placed their hopes on thee, In dangers past they firmly stand, for thou supported me. Britain's hearts and Scotia's sons with Erin's boys shalt join, To prove their rights were trampled on, their rights as well as thine, Willie...

Bare corruption's filty breast and let the country see, The vile, the base, the selfishness that feed on such as we. God and my rights, Britannia cries, where'ere her banners fly. God and my rights--our heart's supply--for this we'll live or die, Willie...

Subject: Lyr Add: UP AN' WAUR THEM A' WILLIE
From:
Date: 16 Oct 98 - 03:06 AM

This should be the exact words for the Battlefield Band version.
Susanne

Chorus:
Up and waur them a',
Up and waur them a'
Up and sell your sour milk
And dance, and ding them a'

When we went tae the field o' war and tae the weaponshaw
Wi' true design to serve our kind and chase our faes awa'
Lairds and lords cam there bedeen, and wow gin they were sma'
While pipers played frae right tae left, Fy, furich Whigs awa'
And when our army was drawn up, the bravest e'er I saw
We did nae doubt tae rax the rout and win the day and a'
Out owre the brae it wisnae play to get sae hard a fa'
While pipers played frae right tae left, Fy, furich Whigs awa'

When brawly they attacked our left, our front, and flank, and a'
Our bauld commander on the green our faes their left did ca'
And there the greatest slaughter made that e'er poor Donald saw
While pipers played frae right tae left, Fy, furich Whigs awa'

And when they saw our Highland mob, they swore they'd slay us a'
And yet ane fyl'd his breeks for fear, and so did rin awa'
We drave them back tae Bonnybriggs, dragoons and foot and a'
While pipers played frae right tae left, Fy, furich Whigs awa'

But when their general viewed our lines and them in order saw
He straight did march into the town and back his left did draw
Thus we taught them the better gate to get a better fa'
While pipers played frae right tae left, Fy, furich Whigs awa'

And then we rallied on the hills and bravely up did draw
But gin ye speir wha wan the day I'll tell you what I saw
We baith did fight, and baith were beat, and baith did rin awa'
So there's my canty Hieland sang about the things I saw

[1981:] This song is one of several on the subject of the Battle of Sheriffmuir in 1715 which both sides claimed to have won. The tune used here was composed by Alan. (Notes Battlefield Band, 'Home Is Where the Van Is')

[1988:] [One of Burns'] earliest exercises in the form, [this appeared] in the second volume of 'The Scots Musical Museum' published in March 1788 and [showed] a typical blend of fresh composition and brilliantly opportunistic borrowing from the past. (Donaldson, Jacobite Song 78)

Subject: RE: Hunting for Up an' Waur 'em, a', Willie
From: Bruce O.
Date: 16 Oct 98 - 02:44 PM

I pointed out Burns' version in DT in file WARNWILI, but it's missing the last two verses. The Battlefield Band's version is missing the 3rd verse of the song in Hogg's 'Jacobite Relics'. The reason for the new tune is that the Battlefield Band's version of the song leaves off the "Willie" at the end of all the even numbered lines, so it won't fit the original tune.

Subject: RE: Hunting for Up an' Waur 'em, a', Willie
From:
Date: 17 Oct 98 - 08:36 AM

Or perhaps it was the other way round: They didn't like the old tune and wrote a new one that the words didn't fit? Or they didn't have the old one, just the words? Why do we have different tunes for the same song anyway? I can think of several examples. - Susanne

Subject: RE: Hunting for Up an' Waur 'em, a', Willie
From: Bruce O.
Date: 17 Oct 98 - 04:05 PM

Why different tunes for the same song is easy to explain for true folk songs. The words were sometimes originally learned from a broadside ballad or a song book that either cited a tune the singer didn't know, or didn't cite a tune for it at all, so the singer had to figure out for himself what to use for a tune. My own conclusion is that traditional singers did use the cited tune if they knew it, but the data for such a conclusion is very meager.

My point is that from 1752 - c 1788 "Up and waur them' a' Willie" identified a song and tune. Now we have nearly a half a dozen songs and two tunes, and the title no longer tells us much. I don't like it when professional performers use old titles for new versions of songs or new tunes. It just makes keeping track of things very confusing and leads the listener to believe he is hearing an authentic old song.