BONNIE WEE PRINCE CHAIRLIE

BONNIE WEE PRINCE CHAIRLIE
Thurso Berwick
Tune : O Ro Se

Wee Prince Chairlie's a lucky laddie,

He's got a daddy an a mammy,

No tae mention a kilt an tammy,

- Lucky wee Prince Chairlie.

Chorus :

Ho-ro for a lucky laddie,

Hi-rum-ho for a lucky laddie,

Ho-ro for a lucky laddie,

- Lucky wee Prince Chairlie.

He's aye been tellt that the Scots are canny,

His sources are his auld Scots granny,

The Sunday Post, the Beano an the Dandy,

- Lucky wee Prince Chairlie.

He disnae ken that the thistle's jaggy,

He disna ken that he's cotch a baggy,

He's no as fly as his Auntie Maggie,

- Lucky wee Prince Chairlie.

Queen Cookie-Birdie, tol, lol, lol-o,

Laid an egg on the windae sole-o,

Duke Chookie-Birdie wis playin polo,

- Lucky wee Prince Chairlie.

Tol, lol, lol, an the gemme's a bogey,

Yuir mammy's the last yin in the lobby,

Mebbe ye will an mebbe ye'll no be

- Lucky wee Prince Chairlie.

Chairlie the First he got beheidit,

Chairlie the Saicint he succeded,

Chairlie the Third'll no be needed,

- Lucky wee Prince Chairlie.

Chairlie, Chairlie, ye'll live an lairn,

Wan Culloden's aa we're weiran,

Dicht yuir een like a guid bit bairn,

- Lucky wee Prince Chairlie.

Footnote : Not a song about the Jacobite Young Pretender but the present Duke of Rothesay. The brouhaha caused by an intruder at young Prince Willie's 21st birthday bash reminded me that the Hanoverian Royal Family were a regular target for Republican Songs from the pens of folk like Jim McLean and Thurso Berwick. This song about the very young Duke of Rothesay is among my Republican favourites and I hope that the line "Chairlie the Third'll no be needed" proves prophetic!