"Bonnie Charlie", aka "Will ye no come back again?"/ Jean Redpath

Bonnie Charlie

"Bonnie Charlie", also commonly known as "Will ye no come back again?", is a Scots poem by Carolina Oliphant (Lady Nairne), set to a traditional Scottish folk tune.

 

As in several of the author's poems, its theme is the aftermath of the Jacobite Rising of 1745, which ended at the Battle of Culloden. Written well after the events it commemorates, it is not a genuine Jacobite song, like many other songs that were "composed in the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, but ... passed off as contemporary products of the Jacobite risings."

 

Lady Nairne came from a Jacobite family, and Prince Charles had stopped to dine at Nairne House on 4 September 1745, during the march to Edinburgh. Her father was exiled the year after, but the family "hoarded" a number of objects "supposedly given to him by Prince Charles."

 

The song, especially its melody, is widely and traditionally used as a song of farewell – often in association with Auld Lang Syne, and generally with no particular Jacobite or other political intent.

 

Theme

The "Bonnie Charlie" of the song is "Bonnie Prince Charlie" or the Young Pretender, the last serious Stuart claimant to the British throne. After Culloden, he escaped to the continent with the help of Flora MacDonald, and other loyal followers. The song expresses joy in Bonnie Charlie's escape from capture and possible execution, and celebrates the loyalty of his followers and their longing for his return.

 

The song has been described as evoking a type of nostalgic idealism: "Who that hears "Bonnie Charlie" sung...but is touched by that longing for the unattainable which is the blessing and the despair of the idealist?"

Use

The song has long been a "time honored Scottish farewell."

 

WILL YOU NO COME BACK AGAIN / JEAN REDPATH

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDXnu_hb_d0 

Jean Redpath singing Will You no Come Back Again ,Most of the images i videoed a few days ago in Glenfinnan at the head of Loch Shiel where Charles Edward Stewart who i don't think deserves such a beautiful song landed in Scotland to raise his Standard ,and to claim the Scottish and English thrones , which turned out to be a utter disaster for scotland and its people , after Culloden he cleared out to france and left his defeated army and country to its fate at at the hands of the Duke of Cumberland in my eyes he was no hero

 

Jean Redpath MBE (28 April 1937 – 21 August 2014) was a Scottish folk singer, educator and musician.

Caree

Jean Redpath was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, to musical parents. Her mother knew many Scots songs and passed them on to Jean and her brother, and her father played the hammered dulcimer. She was raised in Leven, Fife, Scotland, and later returned to Edinburgh, taking medieval studies at the University of Edinburgh. To help pay her way through her studies, she sang for beer money and undertook part-time work as a driving instructor and undertaker's assistant.

 

She learned about 400 songs, together with the oral folklore that went with them. In March 1961, at the age of 24, she arrived in the United States with just eleven dollars in her pocket.

In 2011, she returned to her alma mater to become artist-in-residence at the University of Edinburgh’s Department of Celtic and Scottish Studies. She kept her links to Scotland owning a house in Elie during her life.

Redpath died from cancer on 21 August 2014 at a hospice in Tucson, Arizona.

 

 

Our verse two rhymes, at least in Lady Nairn's Scots.

 

Bonnie Charlie's noo awa

Safely o'er the friendly main;

He'rts will a'most break in twa

Should he no' come back again.

 

Chorus

Will ye no' come back again?

Will ye no' come back again?

Better lo'ed ye canna be

Will ye no' come back again?

 

Ye trusted in your Hieland men

They trusted you, dear Charlie;

They kent you hiding in the glen,

Your cleadin' was but barely.*

(Chorus)

 

English bribes were a' in vain

An' e'en tho puirer we may be

Siller canna buy the heart

That beats aye for thine and thee.

(Chorus)

 

We watch'd thee in the gloamin' hour

We watch'd thee in the mornin' grey

Tho' thirty thousand pound they'd gi'e

Oh, there is nane that wad betray.

(Chorus)

 

Sweet's the laverock's note and lang,

Liltin' wildly up the glen,

But aye to me he sings ane sang,

Will ye no come back again?

(Chorus)

 

*The line is a little obscure. Cleading is cognate with standard English "clad", in the sense of "covered" or "dressed" – probably a reference to Prince Charles being "barely concealed" is intended, although it could also refer to a lack of suitable clothing.

 

Will Ye No Come Back Again?

This is a sad Jacobite song.

Bonnie Prince Charlie has escaped from Scotland after the 1745 Rising and is safe in France. The Highland Scots who fought for him and sheltered him in secret after the terrible battle of Culloden, even though big rewards were offered for him, wish he would return again.

 

But the song was written at least 30 years later than the events it describes.

 

Bonnie Charlie's now awa'
Safely owre the friendly main;
Mony a heart will break in twa,
Should he ne’er come back again.

 

Will ye no come back again?
Will ye no come back again?
Better lo'ed ye canna be,
Will ye no come back again?

 

Ye trusted in your Hieland men,
They trusted you, dear Charlie.
They kent your hidin' in the glen,
Your cleadin was but barely.

 

English bribes were aa in vain,
An e’en tho puirer we may be;
Siller canna buy the heart
That beats aye for thine and thee.

 

Sweet’s the laverock’s note and lang,
Lilting wildly up the glen;
But aye to me he sings ae sang,
Will ye no come back again?