In our ongoing quest to explore the subject of death, dying and murder we at Murder Ballad Monday continue to stretch the concept of a Murder Ballad. This week’s song is no exception to this as we seek to explore the aftermath of killing, of war, of murder. It’s a return to one of the main influences on the whole folk ballad tradition as we look at Robert Burns’ Ye Jacobites By Name.

The necessary backstory

The backstory of this song, its inspiration and its origins relate back to an 18th century brutal, bloody civil war in Scotland and throughout the United Kingdom. The rejection of Roman Catholicism in parts of Europe during the Reformation continued to ripple throughout the countries of Scotland and England. At the end of the 17th century King James VII and II of Scotland & England lost the throne to William of Orange, a protestant from the Netherlands. Supporters of the disposed King James plotted & planned to overthrow this usurper. However it was not until the death of Queen Anne, who died without an heir and the throne of Great Britain passed to George I from Hanover that things became real for the Jacobites. A rebellion was attempted in 1715 when King James’ son, also called James arrived in Scotland. A battle took place at Sheriffmuir which proved to be completely indecisive and James headed home to France feeling pretty disappointed with what he felt was fairly lukewarm support. His son, Charles Edward Stuart tried again in 1745. This attempt failed very badly. And this is where we start to explore our song.

Prince Charles Edward Stuart

In retrospect & hindsight, that wonderfully perfect science, the 1745 Jacobite rebellion should never have taken place. It was a foolish, vain indulgence for a spoiled Italian Prince who had never been to Scotland. It led to the destruction of a whole way of life in the northern part of Scotland known as the Highlands with century old traditions being made illegal by an angry revengeful British government driven by an obsession to ensure that never again would it face an internal fight as it sought to expand and preserve its growing empire overseas.

This rebellion has often suffered from being treated as a romantic noble cause with the young Prince being treated as a dashing, handsome hero. In Scottish popular culture lost causes have been embraced as a way of dealing with the apparent failures that seem to haunt the narrative of what it means to be a Scot. The disastrous defeat at the Battle of Flodden, followed by the economic disaster of the failed imperial experiment at Darien in Central America quickly led to the loss of the Scottish parliament  in 1707 with the Act of Union with England. Adding to this sense of disaster comes the failed Jacobite rebellions of 1715 and 1745. Disaster, disaster, disaster. Another way of understanding this backstory has been to these moments in history as examples of glorious failure. The occasional, plucky moment of success swept away by ultimate, devastating, yes, can you guess? Yeah, you are right – disaster.

Musically this glorious failure motif has been fairly dominant. In order to explore this further I offer the song above from The Corries. Written by Ronnie Brown in the early 1970’s, it’s called The Roses of Prince Charlie. It is, to be fair, an enjoyable, good paced romp performed in the usual excellent manner by Roy Williamson and Ronnie Brown. The lyrics are as follows:

Chorus

Come now gather now, here where the flowers grow

White is the blossom as the snow on the ben

Hear now, freedom’s call, we’ll make a solemn vow

Now by the roses o’ Prince Charlie

Fight again at Bannockburn yer battleaxe tae wield

Fight wi’ yer grandsires on Flodden’s bloody field

Fight at Culloden, yer Bonnie Prince tae shield

Fight by the roses o’ Prince Charlie

Chorus

Spirit o’ the banished, in far an’ distant land

Carved out the new world wi’ sweat, blood an’ hand

Return now in glory an’ on the silver sand

Fight by the roses o’ Prince Charlie

Chorus

Tak’ yer strength frae the green fields that blanket peat and coal

Ships frae the Clyde have a nation in their hold

The water o’ life, some men need tae make them bold

Black gold and fishes frae the sea, man

Chorus

In particular interest to our current theme is the words of the first verse. Two of the biggest battles in Scottish history are name checked. One, Bannockburn, being the biggest success, and Flodden being the biggest failure. If you were looking for a contemporary culture analysis of how successful Prince Charles was during the 1745 rebellion you would struggle to find it here. Only in the second verse is there a sense of what went wrong after the rebellion with a passing reference to the “spirit of the banished, in far an’ distant land.”

I am not criticising Ronnie Brown who along with Roy Williamson provided a huge part of the soundtrack of my childhood. I am, however, trying to raise critical questions about whether this portrayal of Scottish history offers a fair and accurate understanding of what actually happened.

Ronnie Brown’s song was part of a Nationalist revival that swept through Scotland in the early 1970’s and led to a referendum in 1979 that offered the Scots a degree of self-government. Considering what the song sought to link, Bannockburn, the victory of King Robert Bruce over King Edward II of England, a victory that ensured that Scotland in any form existed up until 1707, through the defeat of Flodden, the exile of Charlie’s failed army to the contemporary Scotland of coal, of shipbuilding, and of the newly found North Sea Oil, the use of ‘Bonnie Prince Charlie’ is a very curious icon.

Somewhere between the myth and the reality of the 1745 rebellion do we edge towards our song. And in edging towards this song we also edge towards the reality of this rebellion and the cost of it.

The second part of this search will look in greater detail at the actual song we seek to explore. Central to this second part is a hauntingly beautiful reinterpretation of this song by the singer Eddi Reader. I will end this first part with the ‘normal’ musical presentation of this song, as the jaunty, plucky, get it up you version sung by The Corries.