The Gallant Forty-Twa

Original Track ID

SA1954.33.B8

Original Tape ID

SA1954.033.redone

Summary

In this comic song a weaver goes to Perth to enlist as a soldier in the 'Forty-Twa' [The Black Watch Regiment]; during a drill, the sergeant-major tells him, "Lad ye'll come awa / For I think you'll make an awfu' mess o the gallant Forty-Twa." During manoeuvres, he is told to keep his head down as his big 'napper' risks giving his regiment away.

Item Notes

4 verses and choruses of 4 lines.

Two main versions of this song are to be found: one in Scotland beginning "It's noo I am a sodger, and they ca' me Willie/Jocky Brown", and following the form found in broadside ballads; the other version from Ireland beginning "You may talk about your lancers (like the Scottish chorus). David Hammond cites Hugh Quinn (1884-1956) and a Traveller named 'Oiny Boak' as the sources of the Irish verses in his 'Songs of Belfast'.

N.B. Not to be confused with 'Jock McGraw' aka 'The Stoutest Man in the Forty-Twa'.

See:
'Songs of Belfast' (D. Hammond, 1978) pp. 36-37
'The Sang's the Thing' (S. Douglas, 1992) p. 228
National Library of Scotland, Broadside Ballad collection, Shelf mark L.C.Fol.70(25a)

Recording Location

Language

Scots

Genre

Song Information

Collection

SoSS

Classification

R1877 GD70

Source Type

Reel to reel

Audio Quality

Fair