Annotation:Welcome Royal Charlie

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WELCOME, ROYAL CHARLIE. AKA and see "Donald Caird is come again." Scottish, Reel and Air. A Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. The text in James Hogg's Jacobgite Relics in Scotland (1821) begins:

WELCOME ROYAL CHARLIE

When France had some assistance lent,
A Royal Prince to Scotland sent,
Towards the North his course was bent,
His name was Royal Charlie.
But Oh! he was lang a-coming,
Lang, lang, lang a-coming,
O he was lang a-coming,
Welcome Royal Charlie.

When he upon the shore did stand,
The friends he had within the land
Came dow and shook him by the hand,
And welcom'd Royal Charlie.

The reel printed by Kerr is an adaptation of the air (as printed by Hogg), with parts reversed. The tune was employed as the vehicle for Sir Walter Scott's song "Donald Caird is come again", as superior to the original tune.

Source for notated version:

Printed sources: Kerr (Merry Melodies, vol. 4), c. 1880’s; No 22, p. 5.

Recorded sources:

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