"Braes o' Killiecrankie" - Scottish Jacobite Song

The Battle of Killiecrankie was fought in 1689, as part of the Scots’ rebellion against William of Orange, who had usurped his father-in-law James VII as King. The brave Jacobite commander, Viscount Dundee (Graham of Claverhouse), won the battle but lost his life in the process. This satiric account of the fight pours scorn on the leaders of the Williamite army, told from the perspective of a Loyalist soldier. A song to this tune was written soon after the battle but the first lyrics did not appear till 1790. The first three stanzas are attributed to Robert Burns, while the latter two had been added by James Hogg.
Performed by the Corries, Live from Scotland Volume 4 (1977).

[@isaweesaw]

My favourite version of this song! And I love the authentic Scots pronunciation of it too

[@cmb9993]

The pronunciation is authentic because the Corries are Scots.😊

[@jamesgraham3786]

​@@cmb9993mai child hood mai brothers rise drink men fr mai da.❤❤🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🫡🫡🫡🫡🫡🎲🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿Bannockburn celt,irish desendant scot🎉🎉🎉🎉

[@jamesgraham3786]

Bannockburn ❤❤big shout jungle drums da is ready ma brothers , rise drink men ,lomond, celt ,scots irsh desendant. ❤❤❤❤❤Bannockburn 🫡🫡🫡🫡🫡🫡🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🎲🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

[@jamesgraham3786]

Chieftain Clan Graham, neouble celt, lion❤,boom.

[@lucario2188]

Another song that involves the first Viscount of Dundee is Bonnie Dundee.

[@w.reidripley1968]

To the Looking-Glass creatures Queen Alice, she said, 'I've a scepter in hand; I've a crown on my head Let the Looking-Glass creatures, wherever they be Come dine with the Red Queen, the White Queen, and Me!'

[@RitzBitz96]

Great lyric video! I never get tired of this one. However this version isn't the Corrie Folk Trio- it's just the Corries, from 1977 (Live From Scotland Vol. 4)

[@balladsofhistory]

Thanks for the correction, looks like I confused the discography with the original recording from 1965. Glad to hear you enjoyed it.

[@Zonkieman]

I was there as a yong lad! The Corries 1977 concert... Not Killikrankie🙃!! Am no that auld...!

[@OrangeGoggles1]

Could you post the lyrics in more understandable english? As a Highlander i know a few of these words but i still get confused lol

[@balladsofhistory]

Where have you been so fine lad? Where have you been so gaudy, o? Where have you been so fine lad You came by Killiecrankie, o? Chorus: And if you had been where I have been, You wouldn’t have been so cheerful, o And if you had seen what I have seen, At the hillsides of Killiecrankie, o I fought at land, I fought at sea, At home I fought my auntie, O; But I met the devil and Dundee On the hillsides of Killiecrankie, O The bold Pitcur* fell into a plough furrow, And Clavers* received a heavy blow, O, If not, I would have fed an Athol vulture* On the hillsides of Killiecrankie, O Damn you, MacKay*, what made you lie in the bush beyond the bank*, o? You would have been better kissing King William’s palm, than come to Killiecrankie O It’s not a shame, it’s not a shame, it’s not a shame to stab you-o, There’s sour sloes on Athol’s hills, and the devils at Killiecrankie-o. Pitcur = David Haliburton of Pitcur, a Jacobite nobleman, killed in action. Clavers = John Graham, Laird of Claverhouse, First Viscount Dundee, otherwise known as “Bonnie Dundee”, the commander of the Jacobites who was killed in the battle. Gled = a bird of prey, like vultures and buzzards, or a rapacious / greedy person. MacKay = Hugh MacKay, the Scottish government commander (loyal to William of Orange) who fought the rebelling Jacobites. *There’s no clear translation of ‘brankie’. As an adjective, it means ‘gaudy, finely dressed’. However, in the context of the second-to-last-stanza, the true meaning of ‘brankie’ is contentious. Some sources mention an obsolete 15th century Scots word ‘Brank’(noun), meaning ‘strife, violence, battle’. However, others say it could possibly be a typo by Hogg or the printers, which was supposed to be ‘bankie’ as in ‘an edge, river’s bank, slope of a hill’. We’ll never really know for certain, it’s a mystery.

[@alejandromena8605]

The Great Donald Cameron de Lochiel charged barefoot in this battle

[@sanneoi6323]

A Scots song? Based.

[@lliamreusser4534]

Where is the painting from!

[@balladsofhistory]

“The Battle of Killiecrankie, 1689” by Alan Herriot

[@davidpaterson2309]

Is “Killiecrankie” really a “Jacobite song”? It’s certainly a song about a battle in Scotland over deposition of James VII, in 1689. But it’s clearly written from the point of view of a soldier in the government army (NB: the pre-union Scottish government), not on the Jacobite side - “I met the devil, and Dundee, on the braes o’ Killiecrankie” - Dundee was the commander of the Jacobite forces at Killiecrankie.

[@balladsofhistory]

Killiecrankie belongs to the traditional repertoire of Jacobite songs, the original verses were written by Robert Burns, and the later additions by James Hogg. The battle itself was a victory for the Jacobites, but it resulted in the death of Viscount Dundee. As you mentioned, it is sung from the perspective of a loyalist solider, hence the comparison with treacherous Dundee to the Devil. The song cleverly shows the divisiveness of politics in Scotland at the time of the rebellion, with the solider commenting about fighting abroad and at hame with his auntie. The narrator mocks the cowardice exhibited by his own commander, Hugh MacKay, during the battle: “Oh fie, MacKay, What gart ye lie I' the brush ayont the brankie-o*? Ye'd better kiss'd King Willie's loff Than come tae Killiecrankie-o” (Rough translation, Scots-to-English) “Damn you MacKay, what made you lie in the bush beyond the bank*? You would have been better kissing King William’s palm, than come to Killiecrankie-o” *there’s no clear translation of ‘brankie’ “It’s not a shame, it’s not a shame, it’s not shame to stab you-o. There’s sour sloes on Athol’s hills, and the devils at Killiecrankie-o” (Last two stanzas)

[@radleytube]

​​@@balladsofhistoryhello, do you have a link or know where I could learn about this time on utube? It seems to me the Jacobites were fighting red coates which were the Scottish government? Is that true ? This battle was before 1707 when the union with England (British) took place. I thought red coates were the British army ! Someone said that a lot of these, I dunno laird's in Scotland were actually English? And it was them that won the vote for the union in 1707, is that correct? So, were these red coates uniform fighting for the Scottish government actually working for these English laird's but under the pretence of the Scottish government? It's like the Scottish government was sabotaged, by the ingress from English lords.

[@balladsofhistory]

The context behind the Jacobite risings is quite complicated and is deeply rooted in the politics of the Restoration Period (1660-1688). While the Wars of the Three Kingdoms / English Civil War had come to a close, past political quarrels never ceased and only evolved. The Cavaliers who defended the Stewart Monarchy rallied together as the ‘Court Party’ better known as ‘Tories’ (who tended to support the Anglican Church). The Whigs, on the other hand, contested the power of the Tories and represented the pro-parliamentarian and populist faction of British politics (who tended to be of a religious Dissenter origin, strongly opposed to Catholicism), favoring a stronger parliament and a constitutional monarchy. When the prospect appeared that King James II’s son would cause a Catholic succession, blocking the succession of Protestant William III of Orange and of Mary (James’ daughter), dissent turned into crisis. The leading Whig political elite invited William to England in what would be known as the ‘Glorious Revolution’ setting off a succession crisis for the Crown, the rest is history. Without a doubt, there’s plenty of material, books and such, that you can find on this topic. For a concise and unbiased reading on the Jacobite Risings within Scotland, I suggest reading Volumes 2, 3, & 4 of “A history of the Scottish Highlands, Highland clans and Highland regiments” by Sir John Scott Keltie et al.: Volume II: archive.org/details/historyofscottis002kelt/mode/1up Volume III: archive.org/details/historyofscottis003kelt/mode/1up Volume IV: archive.org/details/historyofscottis004kelt/mode/1up

[@davidpaterson2309]

@@balladsofhistory I am Scottish, I know a bit about my own country’s history and have read Tom Devine’s “The Scottish Nation” and Norman Davies “The Isles” which together give a good analysis of the period. There’s a reasonable hypothesis that the English Civil War, the War of the Three Kingdoms, Cromwell’s invasions of Ireland and Scotland, the repression of the Covenanters, the William of Orange invasion and deposing of James VII, the “Glorious Revolution”, the Union itself, the 15 and 45 Jacobite rebellions - were all essentially elements of one continuous and intertwined conflict that embroiled all of the countries for a century. It was certainly the bloodiest and most complicated period in their history with many intersecting influences, many of which are almost incomprehensible at this historical distance.

[@w.reidripley1968]

Unless you want to draw a parallel -- unattested afaik -- between 'brankie' and Spanish 'barranca,' a general term for someplace tough to get through for any reason. Anything from an escarpment to a thicket. Or an arroyo.