Cope sent a challenge frae Dunbar
Sayin "Charlie meet me an' ye daur
An' I'll learn ye the airt o' war
If ye'll meet me in the morning."
Chorus
O Hey! Johnnie Cope are ye waukin' yet?
Or are your drums a-beating yet?
If ye were waukin' I wad wait
Tae gang tae the coals in the morning.
When Charlie looked the letter upon
He drew his sword and scabbard from
Come, follow me, my merry men
And we'll meet Johnnie Cope in the morning.
Chorus
Now Johnnie, be as good as your word
Come, let us try baith fire and sword
And dinna flee like a frichted bird
That's chased frae its nest i' the morning.
Chorus
When Johnnie Cope he heard o' this
He thocht it wouldna be amiss
Tae hae a horse in readiness
Tae flee awa in the morning.
Chorus
Fye now, Johnnie, get up an' rin
The Highland bagpipes mak' a din
It's better tae sleep in a hale skin
For it will be a bluidie morning.
Chorus
When Johnnie Cope tae Dunbar cam
They speired at him, "Where's a' your men?"
"The de'il confound me gin I ken
For I left them a' in the morning."
Chorus
Now Johnnie, troth ye werena blate
Tae come wi' news o' your ain defeat
And leave your men in sic a strait
Sae early in the morning.
Chorus
In faith, quo Johnnie, I got sic flegs
Wi' their claymores an' philabegs
Gin I face them again, de'il brak my legs
So I wish you a' good morning.
Chorus
Words:
Adam Skirving
(1719-1803)
The
song takes place when the Jacobite army advanced south in 1745, with an English
force, led by Sir John Cope, in hot pursuit. Bonnie Prince Charlie reached
Edinburgh first, however, and Cope assembled his troops to the south at
Prestonpans, and waited for reinforcements. But the wily Jacobite commander Lord
George Murray circled round and launched a surprise attack early one morning and
routed the government forces, some say in less than 15 minutes.
The English general Johnnie Cope seems to have been so afraid of the sound of
the Scottish bagpipes that he disappeared faster than a five pound note in a bar
and got back to England considerable faster than his troops. Being asked
why he ran so fast he replied that unfortunately he couldn't fly.
The tune is an old Scottish Air and this version was composed by one Adam Skirving, a wealthy farmer of Haddingtonshire, who for many years owned the farm of Garleton, about two miles from Haddington, on the road to Gosford. He was born in 1719, and received his education at Preston Kirk, in East Lothian. Skirving was reported to be a very athletic man, with a sharp and ready wit, and not much addicted to verse, but who excelled in all manner of manly sports, and exercises, and particularly a keen golfer and curler. He died in April 1803, and was buried in the churchyard at Athelstaneford. Robert Burns wrote a similar second version using the same tune.
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