“Kev” singing Robert Burns’ Awa’ Whigs Awa’
Chorus
Awa’, Whigs, awa’!
Awa’, Whigs, awa’!
Ye’re but a pack o’ traitor louns,
Ye’ll do nae guid at a’.
1.
Our thristles flourish’d fresh and fair,
And bonie bloom’d our roses;
But Whigs cam like a frost in June,
An’ wither’d a’ our posies.
2.
Our ancient crown’s fa’n in the dust -
Deil blin’ them wi’ the stoure o’t,
An’ write their names in his black beuk,
Wha gae the Whigs the power o’t!
3.
Our sad decay in church and state
Surpasses my descriving.
The Whigs cam o’er us for a curse,
And we hae done wi’ thriving.
4.
Grim Vengeance lang has taen a nap,
But we may see him waukin -
Gude help the day when Royal heads
Are hunted like a maukin!
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No political saying of his is better known than the oft-repeated, “I hae a moral loathing o’ thae Whugs.” Hugh Watt on Thomas Chalmers
just finished reading “a fable of all our lives” so this song resonates.
More importantly — where have you been!?
John– To quote Doctor Johnson (and Boswell) :
Flora Van Gulik– I am pleased that I am not the only person to have read Peter Kocan’s “The Fable of All Our Lives”. When I first heard this song I thought about his world-view of the Whig (or the Regime) versus the Jacobite (Or Quaint and Outmoded or QO).
Caedmon– I’m afraid I’ve been doing other things in my limited spare time including mucking around on Tumblr. But I shall endeavour to start “blogging” again soon.