Cam ye o'er frae France is a Scots

Scots language

Scots is the Germanic language variety spoken in Lowland Scotland and parts of Ulster . It is sometimes called Lowland Scots to distinguish it from Scottish Gaelic, the Celtic language variety spoken in most of the western Highlands and in the Hebrides.Since there are no universally accepted...

 mocking folk song from the time of the Jacobite Revolution in the 18th century.

Background

After the death of Queen Anne

Anne of Great Britain

Anne ascended the thrones of England, Scotland and Ireland on 8 March 1702. On 1 May 1707, under the Act of Union, two of her realms, England and Scotland, were united as a single sovereign state, the Kingdom of Great Britain.Anne's Catholic father, James II and VII, was deposed during the...

 the British crown passed on to George

George I of Great Britain

George I was King of Great Britain and Ireland from 1 August 1714 until his death, and ruler of the Duchy and Electorate of Brunswick-Lüneburg in the Holy Roman Empire from 1698....

, the Elector of Hanover. In his entourage George I brought with him a number of German courtiers, including his mistress Melusine von der Schulenburg, whom he later created the Duchess of Kendal, - commonly referred to as the Sow - and his half-sister Sophia von Kielmansegg

Sophia von Kielmansegg, Countess of Darlington

Sophia Charlotte von Kielmansegg, Countess of Darlington and Countess of Leinster was a German-born British courtier and a half-sister of George I of Great Britain.-Early life:...

, known as the Goosie for her appearance. George I's wife Sophia Dorothea of Celle

Sophia Dorothea of Celle

Sophia Dorothea of Brunswick and Lunenburg was the wife and cousin of George Louis, Elector of Hanover, later George I of Great Britain, and mother of George II through an arranged marriage of state, instigated by the machinations of Duchess Sophia of Hanover...

 remained in Hanover, imprisoned at Ahlden House after her affair with Philip Christoph von Königsmarck

Philip Christoph von Königsmarck

Philip Christoph von Königsmarck or Philipp Christoph Königsmarck, was a Swedish count of Brandenburgian extraction and a soldier...

 - the blade in the song . Another historic personality in the song is John Erskine, 22nd Earl of Mar

John Erskine, 22nd Earl of Mar

John Erskine, 22nd and de jure 6th Earl of Mar, KT , Scottish Jacobite, was the eldest son of the 21st Earl of Mar , from whom he inherited estates that were heavily loaded with debt. By modern reckoning he was 22nd Earl of Mar of the first creation and de jure 6th Earl of Mar of the seventh...

, Bobbing John, who recruited in the Scottish Highlands for the Hanoverian cause. The nickname Geordie Whelps is a reference to the House of Welf, the original line of the House of Hanover

House of Hanover

The House of Hanover is a deposed German royal dynasty which has ruled the Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg , the Kingdom of Hanover, the Kingdom of Great Britain, the Kingdom of Ireland and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland...

.

Lyrics

Cam ye o'er frae France? Cam ye down by Lunnon?

Saw ye Geordie Whelps and his bonny woman?

Were ye at the place ca'd the Kittle Housie?

Saw ye Geordie's grace riding on a goosie?

Geordie, he's a man there is little doubt o't;

He's done a' he can, wha can do without it?

Down there came a blade linkin' like my lordie;

He wad drive a trade at the loom o' Geordie.

Though the claith were bad, blythly may we niffer;

Gin we get a wab, it makes little differ.

We hae tint our plaid, bannet, belt and swordie,

Ha's and mailins braid—but we hae a Geordie!

Jocky's gane to France and Montgomery's lady;

There they'll learn to dance: Madam, are ye ready?

They'll be back belyve belted, brisk and lordly;

Brawly may they thrive to dance a jig wi' Geordie!

Hey for Sandy Don! Hey for Cockolorum!

Hey for Bobbing John and his Highland Quorum!

Mony a sword and lance swings at Highland hurdie;

How they'll skip and dance o'er the bum o' Geordie!

(Repeat first verse)

Glossary

belyve=quickly;

blade=a person of weak, soft constitution from rapid overgrowth;

braid=broad;

brawly=wall;

claith=cloth;

gane=gone;

gin=if, whether;

ha's and mailins=houses and farmlands;

hurdie=buttock;

kittle housie=brothel;

linkin=tripping along;

Lunnon=London;

niffer=haggle or exchange;

tint=lost;

wab=web (or length) of cloth)