Border Pipers and Their Ballads

A recent post from Matt Seattle to the LBPS Facebook post lead to an exploration of a 16th century warlord

Matt’s post introduced us to a little-known book on Border life:
“After a friend sent me this notice of a talk on Thursday I searched for more information on James Thomson the piper of Bedrule. No results, but an unexpected snippet turned up, from RULE WATER AND ITS PEOPLE An Account of the Valley of the Rule and its Inhabitants by George Tancred of Weens, 1907:-
'A reference to the old Border pipers and their social position might not be out of place here. In the Register House I found the copy of the will of James Turnbull, pyper, who died in January 1696. In addition to being a tenant farmer, he filled the office of 'pyper' to the parish of Abbotrule, and at his death left a good sum of money to an only daughter. The piper of a town or parish was a generally welcome guest wherever he went, and he was to be found at all weddings, funerals, and other gatherings.' (P.177)”

On searching this book further, I uncovered another piping reference on p. 60, which lead to the rest of this article.
'Many gentlemen were to be found in the ranks (of Roxburgshire Yeomanry) and when the False Alarm took place, the Liddesdale portion of the troop assembled to a man, under the direction of Corporal Thomas Elliot, Kirndean. In the general excitement, caused by the blazing beacons, the piper, who owned a 'cuddie', mounted the animal and with his pipes played the inspiring Border air, 'I am little Jock Ellitot and wha daur meddle wi' me?’.’

Mention of any tune played by a piper in these ‘historical’ references is rare indeed, but I know of only one other that is to a ‘Border Ballad’ (and that is to a piper singing the ballad, not playing it). I immediately wanted to know more. First stop was the Kist of Riches, the School of Scottish Studies magnificent archive at http://www.tobarandualchais.co.uk/en/fullrecord/26916/9. The page on Little Jock Elliot summarises the story of his life:

“Jock Elliot of Park was an infamous reiver (outlaw, robber) in Liddesdale at a time when the Borders were largely lawless. In 1566, Mary Queen of Scots sent Bothwell (James Hepburn, 1st Duke of Orkney, c. 1534-1578) to deal with the situation. After some success, Bothwell encountered Elliot, who made to escape, only to be wounded by Bothwell's pistol. While moving in to take Elliot captive, Bothwell stumbled, allowing Elliot to turn and attack, seriously wounding his pursuer. 'Little Jock Elliot' made good his escape and supposedly recovered from his injury, as did Bothwell.”

The page contains a link to the 1953 field recording of an unknown singer performing a version of the ballad and the notes go on to add details about the ballad itself.

“This song is the work of James Smail FSA (Scot.) (born 1828, Jedburgh, died 1905, Edinburgh), banker and then secretary of the Commercial Bank of Scotland. As well as a prolific writer, he was an active member of Berwickshire Naturalists' Club, producing many works on birds in particular. He was well-known as an authority on local history and took great interest in the antiquities of the Borders.
Published under the pen-name of 'Matthew Gotterson' in The Scotsman in 1872, his original work 'Little Jock Elliot' initially caused quite a stir. The nature of the submission was ambiguous, suggesting the song might even have been collected as a traditional folk-song; many people immediately began asking whether this might not be a surviving variant of the 'lost' ballad of the same name. Over the next year, public correspondence failed to resolve the issue and The Scotsman was compelled to settle the debate by contacting the author and establishing the originality of the work, which it confirmed to its readers. Almost twenty years later, 'Gotterson' again published in the same newspaper a continuation of his ballad, called simply 'Little Jock II'.
This performance includes verses from both publications, with the contributor's first and last verses from the second piece, his middle verses from the first. Smail's complete ballad (i.e. the publications combined) yields twelve verses.
Despite attempts to reconstruct the 'lost' ballad of Jock Elliot, the authenticity of these recovered verses remains somewhat doubtful. The Scots refrain "Wha daur meddle wi' me?", attributed to Elliot himself, is the most prominent fragment to have survived. The phrase is also the motto of the 'Order of the Thistle', the Scottish chivalrous order (Latin "Nemo me impune lacessit", Gaelic "Cha togar m' fhearg gun dìoladh").”

What this piece doesn’t say is that a manuscript version of the tune exists; it is included in the National Library of Scotland’s Blaikie MS (NLS MS.1578/ Mf.Sec.MSS.295). The entire manuscript has been transcribed by the indefatigable Jack Campin; it contains the note ‘To Sir Walter Scott/ of Abbotsford Bart./ from his most obedient/ and very humble servant/Andw. Blaikie/ 27. July 1824.’
This note indicates that the tune itself predates the song, since it predates the birth of the song’s author. Here, with Jack’s permission, is his transcription of the Blaikie MS (the ‘bass’ notes are ffa|gga| Fff|ccc|etc).*

little jock elliot blaikie campin

little jock elliot blaikie arr

Little Jock Elliot bagpipe-way (arr. from Blaikie MS)

This is only remotely related to the tune to which the song is sung on tobar an dualchais; not an easy one to transcribe but here is my attempt. Note how the singer has used a typical sung-version trick, extending the 9/8 time signature into 6/8 by adding pauses. Note also the similarity between this and the 18th century tune Woo’d an’ married an’ a’.

little jock elliot 0001

Little Jock Elliot (transcribed from the tobar an dualchais recording)

* I have very recently learnt that a second manuscript of over 70 Scottish tunes compiled by Andrew Blaikie has been discovered by the exquisitely-named Sally Garden. I await details with keen interest. “[The Manuscript] not only extends our musical understanding of Scots balladry, but raises new and significant research questions”, Garden says.

lje pipe setting

Little Jock Elliot bagpipe-way II (from the tobar an dualchais recording)

As mentioned on the tobar an dualchais page, two sets of words were published in The Scotsman newspaper. The first was on 25th April 1872, accompanied by a note on the encounter between Little Jock and Bothwell (It was John Smail who argued in his monograph on Queen Mary's Jedburgh sojourn, quoting 'from the ancient annals' that this encounter ended in Elliot's death. )

Little Jock Elliot
or
"Wha Daur Meddle Wi' Me."
A Liddesdale Ballad
(From the Recital of Matthew Gotterson)
[Bothwell was thoroughly defeated in the western Borders, so much so that notwithstanding his appointment as "our Lietenant-General of the Borders" by Mary, "he could not even recover to the Queen's allegiance his own dominions in Liddesdales." In one of his onslaughts among the mosstroopers he had a personalencounter with Little Jock Elliot, otherwise "John Ellio of the Parks, ane desperate freebooter" - by whom he was dangerously wounded. When suffering from his wound in Hermitage Castle he was visited by Mary, who rode from Jedburgh thither and back on the same day, a distance of forty-eight miles. "Whether she visited a wounded subject or a lover in danger has been much disputed." At this period of her reign, Liddesdale showed no loyalty, but often the reverse, for Mary. The Sir Hary of the ballad, "ane valiant knight," was in many a rough feud and battle. He was brother to the Earl of Northumberland, and he had the misfortune, when at the head of a thousand horse to be routed by Bothwell at Haltwell Sweir. Mary, doubtless, had this in rememberance when she sent her famous apology for marrying Bothwell to the Court of France. Hairibee, it may be noted, was the place, near Carlisle, where criminals were executed.]

My castle is aye my ain,
An' herried it never shall be;
For I maun fa' ere it's ta'en,
An wha daur meddle wi' me?
Wi' ma kit i' the rib o' ma naig,
Ma sword hingin' doon by ma knee,
For man I am never afraid,
An' wha daur meddle wi' me?

Wha daur meddle wi' me?
Wha daur meddle wi' me?
Oh, my name it is Little Jock Elliot
An' wha daur meddle wi' me?

Fierce Bothwell I vanquished clean,
Gar'd troopers an' fitmen flee;
B'my faith I dumfoundert the Queen
But wha daur meddle wi' me?
Alang by the Dead-Water Stank,
Jock Fenwick I met on the lea;
But his saddle was toom in a clank-
An' wha daur meddle wi' me?

Where Keeldar meets wi' the Tynr,
Mysel' an' my kinsmen three,
We tackled the Percys nine-
They'll never mair meddle wi' me.
Sir Hary, wi' nimble brand,
He pricket my cap ajee;
But I cloured his head on the strand-
An' wha daur meddle wi' me?

The Cumberland rievers ken,
The straike my arm can gie,
An' warily pass the glen
For wha daur meddle wi' me?
I've chased the loons doun to Carlisle,
Jooket the raip on the Hairibree;
Where my nag nickert an' cocket his tail
But wha daur meddle wi' me?

My kinsmen are true, an' brawlie,
At glint o' an enemie,
Round Parke's auld turrets they rally
An' wha daur meddle wi' me?
Then heigh for the tug an' tussle,
Though the cost be Jethart tree;
Let the Queen an' her troopers gae whustle-
Oh, wha daur meddle wi' me?
There's freedom for me and my men
Where the Liddel rins wild and free,
Where my toor i' the heart o’ the glen
Is the pride o' my billies and me.
And I keep my ain head wi' my hand
And quell every enemie,
For I kittle their ribs wi' my brand,
And Wha daur meddle wi' me?

Wha daur meddle wi' me?
Wha daur meddle wi' me?
Oh, my name it is Little Jock Elliot,
And wha daur meddle wi' me?

I mount my gude nag wi' a will
When a fray's i' the wund, and he
Cocks his lugs as he tugs for the hill
That enters the South countrie,
Where pricking and spurring are rife,
And the bluid boils up like a sea;
But Southrons gang doon i' the strife
And wha daur meddle wi' me?

In Liddesdale never a man,
Wad shrink frae the backing o# me,
And Jed-forest gies me the van
To strike 'gainst her enemie.
In Coquetdale, Reed, and Tyne
We drive a prey wi' glee,
And launder the lubberts like swine
And wha daur meddle wi' me?

Jock Ridley ance gaily rode doon
To lift my ain horse frae the lea-
A riever o' Tynedale renoun,
A Ker-handed pricker was he.
He made a fell dash i' the derl,
But girnin I soon made him flee
Wi' some weel proggit holes in his serk;
And wha daur meddle wi' me?

At Wheel-kirk, within the Carrail,
Priest David had thirty-and-three
Gude nowt that were stown head and tail
By Percy o' Keelderstanelee.
I chased up the unhallowed loon,
Brought him and his horse to their knee,
And wheeled back the nowt to their toun;
And wha daur meddle wi' me?

In a raid i' the licht o' the moon
The Bewcastle Cout sichted me,
And swore he wad level my croon,
And flauned his sword michtilie.
We met wi' a rush i' the pass,
Wi' as clash made the steel-fire flee,
But he fell like a stot on the grass
An wha daur meddle wi' me?

I fear neither Warden nor law,
Nor the troopers o' Queen Marie;
Grim Bothwell frae me got the claw
He'll never forget till he dee.
I'll keep my ain head wi' my hand
And my neck frae the hanging tree
As lang as I waiggle a brand
And wha daur meddle wi' me?

Wha daur meddle wi' me?
Wha daur meddle wi' me?
Oh, my name it is Little Jock Elliot
An' wha daur meddle wi' me?

More verses were published in The Scotsman, November 9 1892
Little Jock Elliot II
A Border Ballad
(From the Recital of Matthew Gotterson.)

Wha daur meddle wi' me?
Wha daur meddle wi' me?
Oh, my name it is Little Jock Elliot
An' wha daur meddle wi' me?

Wha daur meddle wi' me?
Wha daur meddle wi' me?
Oh, my name it is Little Jock Elliot,
And wha daur meddle wi' me?

Wha daur meddle wi' me?
Wha daur meddle wi' me?
Oh, my name it is Little Jock Elliot
An' wha daur meddle wi' me?