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"Wha'll (Who'll) be King but Charlie", in Gaelic "Se 'n Righ a th' again is fhèarr leinn"
("We prefer our own King") also known as "Behind the Bush in the Garden" (an Irish jig version
usually played with the A & B parts reversed), "Come Together", "Cha Dean Mi'n Obair",
"I Won't Do the Work" (jig), "I Sat in the Valley Green", "More Power to Ye",
"Over the River to Charlie" (in Pa.), "Royal Charlie" or "Times are Mighty Hard" is a
Scottish air, quickstep and jig (6/8 time) in C Major (Carlin, Fraser, Martin) or D Major (Kerr,
McLachlan). The parts are played one part (Hardie), AB (Carlin, Fraser, Howe, Martin),
AAB (McLachlan) or ABB' (Kerr).
"Wha'll be King" has been called a "grand old Jacobite rallying song". This optimistic Jacobite song and tune (beginning "Wha'll be King but Charlie, the news frae Moidar cam' yestreen") has sometimes erroneously been attributed to Scottish fiddler Niel Gow. Bayard (1981) identifies the lyrics as anonymously composed, while the tune is, in its earliest printing, Captain Simon Fraser's "We Prefer Our Own King" ("Se'n Righ atha ahuin is fear linn"). Dunlay & Greenberg (1996) believe the setting of the tune in Kerr probably comes from Gale’s Pocket Companion (c. 1800) and that a related setting in C Major can be found in the Edinburg Repository of Music (1825). "Wha’ll be King" appears in The Songs of Scotland (1877) complete with Scots verses. John Rook, a multi-instrumentalist from Waverton, Cumbria, entered it into his 1840 music manuscript collection, as did American musician M.E. Ames into his 1850 music copybook. It was printed in Carlin's Master Collection (1984), Fraser's The Airs and Melodies Peculiar to the Highlands of Scotland and the Isles (1816), Hardie's Caledonian Companion (1992), Howe's 1000 Jigs and Reels (c. 1867), Kerr's Merry Melodies, vol. 1 (c. 1880), Manson's Hamilton’s Universal Tune Book vol. 1 (1853), Manson's Hamilton's Universal Tune Book vol. 2 (1854), Martin's Traditional Scottish Fiddling (2002) and McLachlan's The Piper's Assistant (1854) (quickstep). It was recorded by Silly Wizard on A Glint of Silver (1986) and Abby Newton on Castles, Kirks and Caves (2001). |