A Hundred Pipers
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"The Hundred Pipers" is a Scottish song and
jig The jig (, ) is a form of lively folk dance in compound metre, as well as the accompanying dance tune. It first gained popularity in 16th-century England, Ireland, Scotland, and other parts of the British Isles, and was adopted on mainland Eu ...
attributed to Carolina Nairne, Lady Nairne and popularised from 1852 onwards. It takes as its themes events during and after the
Jacobite Rising of 1745 The Jacobite rising of 1745 was an attempt by Charles Edward Stuart to regain the Monarchy of Great Britain, British throne for his father, James Francis Edward Stuart. It took place during the War of the Austrian Succession, when the bulk of t ...
.


Historical background

The song commemorates the surrender of the town of Carlisle to Prince
Charles Edward Stuart Charles Edward Louis John Sylvester Maria Casimir Stuart (31 December 1720 – 30 January 1788) was the elder son of James Francis Edward Stuart, making him the grandson of James VII and II, and the Stuart claimant to the thrones of England, ...
, on 18 November 1745, when he invaded England, at the head of a mixed army of Highlanders and Lowlanders, after his victory at Prestonpans. He "entered Carlisle on a white horse, with a hundred pipers playing before him, whose shrill music was not calculated to inspire the citizens with confidence in their grotesque conquerors", according to ''Burtons History of Scotland''. The episode, recorded in the fourth stanza, of two thousand Highlanders swimming the River Esk, when in flood, on the occasion of the capture of Carlise, is not quite correct. It refers to a later period, when Prince Charles made his disastrous retreat from Derby, and Carlisle had been retaken. It was Scots, and not "fell English ground" which they reached on that occasion. But Lady Nairne, by combining the two events, produced a very spirited and successful ballad, which takes a high place among later Jacobite songs.


Composition and popularisation

"The Hundred Pipers" is attributed to Carolina Nairne, Lady Nairne, a prolific songwriter of the period descending from a Jacobite family. The verses appears in the second edition of her ''Lays from Strathern'' (1846). "The Hundred Pipers" does not seem to have been printed as a song until about 1852, when it was issued at Edinburgh in sheet form, with the music arranged by Elizabeth Rainforth. Rainforth, a soprano singer, appears to have been responsible for introducing it to the public, some five or more years after Nairne's death. Rainforth lived in Edinburgh from 1851 or 1852 to 1856, and contemporary publications post reviews of her performance of the song in the capital; and she published the song with her own (and the now standard) musical arrangement in 1852. The song does not date from the Jacobite period, as is the case with many others now considered in the "classic canon of Jacobite songs", most of which were songs "composed in the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, but were passed off as contemporary products of the Jacobite risings." The tune has not been satisfactorily traced, and though it is indexed in the ''Lays'' as "Hundred Pipers", no such air is known to exist previous to the date of Lady Nairne's song.


Contemporary versions

In 1998, Scottish singer
Isla St Clair Isla St Clair (born 2 May 1952 as Isabella Margaret Dyce) is a Scottish singer. Life Isla St Clair was born in Grangemouth, Central Scotland, on 2 May 1952. Her family came from North East Scotland and it was here that she spent her early year ...
recorded a version of "The Hundred Pipers" sung in the old style, for her album ''When the Pipers Play''. This version was also included in the film ''When the Pipers Play'', aired by
PBS Television The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...
in the United States. In 1958
Lord Rockingham's XI Lord Rockingham's XI was a group of British session musicians, led by Harry Robinson (1932–1996), who had a No. 1 hit on the UK Singles Chart in 1958 with " Hoots Mon". The group was created to perform as the resident band on the pop ...
had a Number One UK hit with " Hoots Mon!", a mainly instrumental rock 'n' roll tune (with Scots-inspired interjections including "Hoots mon! There's a moose... loose... aboot this hoose!") based on the melody of "The Hundred Pipers".


Lyrics

These lyrics are in Scots. :''Wi' a hundred pipers, an' a', an' a','' :''Wi' a hundred pipers, an' a', an' a','' :''We'll up an' gie them a blaw, a blaw'' :''Wi' a hundred pipers, an' a', an' a'.'' :''O it's owre the border awa', awa :''It's owre the border awa', awa :''We'll on an' we'll march to
Carlisle Carlisle ( , ; from ) is a city in the Cumberland district of Cumbria, England. Carlisle's early history is marked by the establishment of a settlement called Luguvalium to serve forts along Hadrian's Wall in Roman Britain. Due to its pro ...
ha :''Wi' its
yett A yett (from the Old English and Scots language word for "gate") is a gate or grille of latticed wrought iron bars used for defensive purposes in castles and tower houses. Unlike a portcullis, which is raised and lowered vertically using mech ...
s, its castle an' a', an a'.'' Chorus: :''Wi' a hundred pipers, an' a', an' a','' :''Wi' a hundred pipers, an' a', an' a','' :''We'll up an' gie them a blaw, a blaw'' :''Wi' a hundred pipers, an' a', an' a'.'' :''O! our sodger lads looked braw, looked braw,'' :''Wi' their tartan kilts an' a', an' a','' :''Wi' their bonnets an' feathers an' glitt'rin' gear,'' :''An'
pibroch Pibroch, or is an art music genre associated primarily with the Scottish Highlands that is characterised by extended compositions with a melodic theme and elaborate formal variations. Strictly meaning 'piping' in Scottish Gaelic, has for some ...
s sounding loud and clear.'' :''Will they a' return to their ain dear glen?'' :''Will they a' return oor Heilan' men?'' :''Second sichted Sandy looked fu' wae.'' :''An' mithers grat when they march'd away.'' :''Wi' a hundred pipers, an' a', an' a','' :''Wi' a hundred pipers, an' a', an' a','' :''We'll up an' gie them a blaw, a blaw'' :''Wi' a hundred pipers, an' a', an' a'.'' :''O! wha' is foremos o' a', o' a','' :''Oh wha' is foremost o' a', o' a','' :'' Bonnie Charlie the King o' us a', hurrah!'' :''Wi' his hundred pipers an' a', an ' a'.'' :''His bonnet and feathers he's waving high,'' :''His prancing steed maist seems to fly,'' :''The nor' win' plays wi' his curly hair,'' :''While the pipers play wi'an unco flare.'' :''Wi' a hundred pipers, an' a', an' a','' :''Wi' a hundred pipers, an' a', an' a','' :''We'll up an' gie them a blaw, a blaw'' :''Wi' a hundred pipers, an' a', an' a'.'' :''The Esk was swollen sae red an' sae deep,'' :''But shouther to shouther the brave lads keep;'' :''Twa thousand swam owre to fell English ground'' :''An' danced themselves dry to the pibroch's sound.'' :''Dumfoun'er'd the English saw, they saw,'' :''Dumfoun'er'd they heard the blaw, the blaw,'' :''Dumfoun'er'd they a' ran awa', awa','' :''Frae the hundred pipers an' a', an' a'.'' :''Wi' a hundred pipers, an' a', an' a','' :''Wi' a hundred pipers, an' a', an' a','' :''We'll up an' gie them a blaw, a blaw'' :''Wi' a hundred pipers, an' a', an' a'.''


See also

* 100 Pipers (Whisky Brand)


References

;Works cited * * * * * * * ;Attribution *This article includes text taken from the public domain
Characteristic Songs and Dances of All Nations
' by James Duff Brown, 1901.


External links

*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hundred Pipers Jacobite songs Year of song unknown