Wee, Wee German Lairdie sung by Alastair McDonald

Early Jacobite song mocking King George I and his love of delving in his vegetable patch. The Scottish version of the Union flag was used unofficially from 1606 to 1707, when it was quietly dropped.
Noo, wha the de'il hae we gotten for a king
But a wee bit German lairdie
When we cam to bring him hame
He was delvin' in his yairdie
Sheughin' kail an' layin' leeks
But the hose an' but the breeks
An' up his beggar duds he cleeks
This wee bit German lairdie
An' he's clappit doun in our gudeman's chair
This wee bit German lairdie
He's brocht forth o' foreign trash
An' dibbled them in our yairdie
He's pruned the rose o' English cloons
An' broken the harp o' Irish loons
But thistle taps'll jag his thumbs
This wee bit German lairdie
Come up amang our Hieland Hills
Thou wee bit German lairdie
See the Stewarts' lang kail thrive
They hae dibbled in our yairdie
But if a stock ye daur to pu'
Or haud the yokin' o' a plough
We'll brak your sceptre ower your mou'
Thou feckless German lairdie
Oor hills are steep, oor glens are deep
Nae fittin' for a yairdie
The Nor'land thistles willna pu'
Thou feckless German lairdie
But we've the trenching blades o' weir
We'll prune ye o' yer German gear
We'll pass ye 'neath the claymore's shear
Thou feckless German lairdie
Oh Scotland, thou art ca'ed a hole
For nursin' siccan vermin
The very dugs o' England's court
They bark and howl in German
So keep thy dibble in thine hand
Thy spade but an' thy yairdie
For wha the de'il noo rules oor land
But a wee bit German lairdie

[@thefrenchareharlequins2743]

Understood every word of it.

[@cbv7207]

General Sir Alan Cunningham in cyrillic, interesting name lol

[@RedAndBlackIDress]

@@cbv7207 cyrillic?

[@silverarrowslk]

@@RedAndBlackIDress Cyrillic? It’s Scots

[@amsodoneworkingnow1978]

So many of us still do my friend

[@Reezy1888]

This tune deserves so much more love

[@Reezy1888]

Liking my own comment cause it's true and then I'm gonna like this again

[@stefanjasovic2311]

Based

[@FrejthKing]

*cheeky jig*

[@TomorrowWeLive]

The little bit of the German anthem at the beginning is a nice cheeky touch

[@Joker-om7ff]

I know right, i love it.

[@mareksicinski3726]

you mean of the uber alles melody?

[@FrejthKing]

the wee bit German anthem ^^

[@amsodoneworkingnow1978]

Or a wee bitee Scottish sarcasm

[@asmodeus0454]

The ironic opening with the first bars of _Deutschlandlied_ sets off this song very well.

[@stevekaczynski3793]

Riots broke out in a number of English cities and towns when George I was crowned in 1714 - the Riot Act was introduced later as a reaction. Some of the sentiment sprang from Jacobite sympathy, some from a simple dislike of having a foreigner on the throne. As a Protestant George was offered the crown - there were over 50 Catholics who in the normal run of things had superior hereditary claims to the throne, but Catholics were barred.

[@Itsover..866]

​@penderyn8794Now they're the Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburgs

[@brawladdie1]

You're right off course. I've lived under a popular and innocuous monarch. I dread to think what it would be like under a warped one. It's just that, if I'm going to be bombarded day after day by propaganda worshipping those in power, I'd rather it was the royals (whom I can easily ignore by switching off) than the likes of Cameron, Brown, Blair etc, who just infuriate. Whenever I've tried voting politicians out (e.g. Thatcher, Blair) the rest of the country has gone the other way!

[@SuperMrHiggins]

I live on the other side of the pond, it's been nearly a decade but things on this side have jumped into the deep end of idiocy as our ancestors got a life vest.

[@brawladdie1]

Absolutely true, but kings are tribal totems. They're like the weather, sometimes good, sometimes awful, but they change periodically, unlike Republican governments - unfailingly corrupt and unaccountable but never too afraid of being deposed, as they all get their regular turn in power. At least you can chop off a king's head!

[@barbaramahoney2135]

I agree

[@teslashark]

Be Makhno!

[@hoodoo961]

Here's to the king over the water!

[@t.m2574]

who🤨

[@MultiNivek]

god bless all jacobites

[@HomebrandFishfood]

I found a book with this song in it and decided to see what it sounded like

[@pheasant6634]

What book?

[@FrejthKing]

tell us!

[@la9202]

the guitar on this is just amazing

[@brawladdie1]

And nowadays monarchs are just paper tigers, to quote Mao. We've taken out their claws. But our Ruritanian constitution is excellent for preventing running dogs (Mao again) like Fascist Blair and Stalinist Brown from being freed from their leashes. If I go for a haircut, I'd rather look at Elizabeth II on the wall (not that she's up there) than grubby little politicians like Thatcher & Co

[@englishjacobite5317]

well said

[@stevekaczynski3793]

He didn't bother much with learning English, and spent as much time in Hanover as he could. In fact he died there in 1727, in the same room in which he had been born. Robert Walpole, usually considered the first British prime minister, said he controlled George I with the aid of "bad Latin and good punch". I don't know about 1715, but in 1745 (in the reign of George II, who was not much more popular) Dutch troops were at first deployed as auxiliaries though they mainly did garrison duty and did not fight the Jacobites. They were later replaced by German troops from Hesse, a traditional source of mercenaries.

[@markvance6025]

Steve Kaczynski l

[@jzneter736]

You sure about the dutch troops ?

[@kaczynskis5721]

@@jzneter736 They were sent, did garrison duty for a time and were withdrawn after French complaints that their use contravened an agreement. They were replaced by Hessians.

[@SurrealisticSlumbers]

@@kaczynskis5721 I will never forget learning how George Washington and his troops surprised the sleeping, hungover Hessians in an unexpected ambush from up the near-frozen Delaware River, changing the course of U.S. history forever... those Hessians... they may be a huge reason of why we aren't still being ruled by Britain today 😆

[@TheThingInMySink]

@@SurrealisticSlumbers Do you know why? They weren't mercenaries, they were conscripts the British bought, who were barely paid themselves which is why the deserted in droves, closer to slave soldiers than mercenaries. In Europe the Hessians fought hard in every war they took part in because most of those wars were right on their doorstep. Nobody wants to fight a ridiculous foreign war far from home. Also a large chunk of the so called hessians mentioned throughout history in foreign service probably weren't from Hesse-Cassel at all.

[@brawladdie1]

Nice one!

[@Zeeko76]

Olaf Scholz is the new wee bit German lairdie

[@inverkenny]

here's tae the Stuarts.

[@daniellejamieson7365]

ower day will come

[@dinokubura5702]

this is beauthiful.. yust beauthiful.. ausgezeichnet!

[@BillDFC]

@Claymore1715 God bless The House of Stuart.

[@MsPerson4]

He wouldn't have been if Charlie had gotten the throne though.

[@familymember4343]

It can't be an 'early Jacobite song' if it refers to 'Farmer George' - that was George III, who didn't succeed to the throne till after the Jacobites were done for. It must refer to George I, since it was he who was selected to succeed Anne.

[@stevekaczynski3793]

There were jokes about George I, who was a keen gardener, working in his garden when the news was brought that he was now king of Britain. It was considered not to be kingly behaviour.

[@VTX1314]

Here's to the king sir you all ken whae a mean sirs

[@ryand.5857]

Excellent tune. Know every word. God save the Scots.

[@robsargent4]

@NordicThunder24 @NordicThunder24 they say wikipedia's not always the most reliable of sources, but in this case, I haven't noticed anything clearly wrong.

[@MrBobbyjum]

There is an irony of course, the current Jacobite heir is Franz, Duke of Bavaria. Yup, a German lol.

[@jamesstewart5011]

Nah bruv wee bonnie Charlie had no legitimate bairns and neither did his bro cause he was in the church, so when u trace the lines back it would be the current Prince of lichtenstein

[@jamesstewart5011]

Ha

[@SurrealisticSlumbers]

Hilarious

[@kets4443]

@@jamesstewart5011 the heir is Franz, Duke of Bavaria then it will pass to his brother then to his daughter who married the son of the Prince of Liechtenstein.

[@MaelPlaguecrow6942]

German noble pussy must be something else then.

[@jordansinclair281]

Is the vegetable patch a euphemism? Like the goosie and the sow

[@stateroom12]

Forget, hell!

[@AvengingRedHand]

'Last I checked, the majority of the first world where democracy is prevalent has very high literacy rates.' You clearly haven't been reading the same interwebz that I have. 'And you're statement really shows that you have less faith in the average person to decide their fate than what is probably healthy.' 'Healthy' in this case just means 'what you approve of', and as such is subjective, so I really cant argue the point. (cont.)

[@reflective_lights]

Avenging Red Hand one word bud to popular vote. TRUMP

[@reflective_lights]

Give me the intellegincia of the founding fathers any day. Smart people should rule the land. It's what made the enlightenment and it's what created America. A strong intelligent middle/upper class that guided the hordes of illiterate settlers who were basically playing mine craft in the Ohio Valley. If u want popular vote and any of that everyone gets a vote shit look at trump and Andrew Jackson, and harding, and grant, and bush, and any others I may have left out. Fdr was popular, but because America was between hating intellectuals in settler times and hating intellectuals in modern times and so most people tried to be smart, even if they weren't all that smart. As Orwell said in Goldsteins book, the middle class has always ridden the wave of revolution on the backs of the lower class. And whether you like it or not, Adam Smith showed that when a nobility of blood is lacking, the nobility of money will rise. Don't feed me the horse shit of "the people have a say" ask Andrew Carnegie, ask boss tweed, ask James harding, and ask the new one. We will always be oppressed, so we might as well have stability and growth, rather than a trump esque complete clusterfuck

[@AvengingRedHand]

I love the idea that if we spread out responsibility among dozens, hundreds, thousands, or perhaps millions of people, to be exercised by majority vote, we'll get better results than if we put it in the hands of that terrifying 'one man'.

[@christophercaldwell192]

To me it's less about results, and more about principle. People should have agency over their own lives, even if it means making bad decisions.

[@markhodge4221]

HERER

[@Cocarat206]

I know the feeling. I lived under George Bush turning my nation into a worldwide punchline for eight years, and the governor of my state has consistently been an incompetent madman. It can be frustrating. But that's one of the biggest problems with democracy. When you give power to the people, what happens when they're largely gullible and don't know who they're voting for?

[@paulsmith5752]

Brexit.

[@mrmoist9753]

Paul Smith Brexit, the best thing to happen to this country since the 70's, you feckless Euro national lapdog

[@odinfromcentr2]

The sad and infuriating part about the EU is that it has enabled the very threat that something like it is needed to combat effectively - the Saracens being more dangerous now than at any time since 1683.

[@morgang5666]

Biden is Making Bush look like King Arthur.

[@Cocarat206]

@@morgang5666 God, don't remind me.

[@michealcurrie8272]

Time to wake up. The world is changing.

[@robsargent4]

error? what is this error?

[@blackred0486]

This is a really great tune! I just find the Scotch dialect difficult to fully understand.

[@grantirons6749]

You must no be scottish 😂

[@Hardrada88]

Aye it’s a fine thing

[@stonedape2406]

It's actually a language in it's own right, called Scots.

[@jake1021-b9n]

@@stonedape2406 actually, I think this may be closer to Gaelic if I'm not mistaken, feel free to check me on that but that's my impression

[@taggymcshaggy6383]

@@jake1021-b9n its not scottish gaelic its Scots. Scots is a germanic language that came from middle english. Scottish Gaelic is a celtic language closely related to Irish

[@Burgerburgerburger-t8f]

Me when I get into a fight with a Wehraboo:

[@MrBobbyjum]

No, he would be King. lol.

[@ajbeat8736]

I'm tempted to write a ditty about a little Italian lairdie for the young pretender, seeing as he spent most of his time in Rome

[@michaelbuckley1907]

not by choice mong

[@jimmywalker1568]

Go on let me guess the pope of rome

[@mrmoist9753]

Jimmy Walker no, he's talking about King Charles who was half Italian and half Scottish of the Scottish Stuart line, he lived in Rome most of his life until he led the Jacobites in the 1745 rising, Scots seem to like him and called him bonnie prince Charlie, but he did abandon the jacobites to a horrible fate after loosing at coludon, he's not much better than George, I miss the Plantagenets

[@mrmoist9753]

*Culloden

[@Ridley369]

Adam Bruce He was BRITISH royalty, not Scottish. Jacobitism has as much to do with Scotland as it does England and Ireland, and everything to do with putting the Stuarts back on the throne in London.

[@Cocarat206]

I love how people get so dedicated to century old ideas... The current Jacobite heir is more a German then the Hanover were. Besides, aren't we past the point where we need kings as figureheads to represent our nations?

[@SurrealisticSlumbers]

Who's the Jacobite heir?

[@Cocarat206]

@@SurrealisticSlumbers Me

[@SurrealisticSlumbers]

@@Cocarat206 😂😂😂

[@joekerr9197]

Yes the ironic thing about it is that the current Jacobite pretender would be a born and bred German. History is funny like that sometimes.

[@Joker-om7ff]

If the cursed land of Germany won the first world war we finns would have had a german king too. We would have been transferred from Russia to them, like we were from Sweden to Russia. Thankfully that didn’t happen.

[@schokakolacan995]

Damn, it’s almost like Germany aided Finland in its fight for independence, trained Finnish soldiers in the First World War to fight off Russia, and even aided in the second war. That “cursed” land never ever ever had any desire to take over the Finnish government. Your full of shit frankly….

[@seamuswbiggerarmalite3379]

hahaha yer country was the slave and again a slave wait...

[@thenoobprincev2529]

Well, What you were going to do with independance anyways? You are much better suited to foreign boot❤

[@blackred0486]

Was George I feckless? Or is this just Jacobite propaganda? Did Hanoverian troops and/or other German troops serve in Scotland to help put down the Jacobite rebellions? I seem to remember reading somewhere that some German soldiery did march the length of England to wage war in Scotland.

[@northscot9862]

Try it again, an we will cut yer fuckin hieds aff, Sassenach bastards. SAOR ALBA GU BRATH.

[@TheThingInMySink]

@@northscot9862 Think you'd have to not be part of the UK first for that to happen, which doesn't seem to be happening.

[@northscot9862]

@@TheThingInMySink Have you a fukin clue about Scotland Yankee, wait an see. SAOR ALBA GU BRATH

[@richardlowenherz281]

I'm a German lairdie! 😁

[@herrwagnerianer1739]

Well, my Scottish friends. A Saxon for the (Anglo-)Saxon throne!

[@michaeldreaver108]

England hasn't been Saxon land since 1066.

[@herrwagnerianer1739]

@@michaeldreaver108 Well, the Saxons didn't disappear into thin air just because some Normans came.

[@michaeldreaver108]

@@herrwagnerianer1739 no but it wasn't their land or kingdom anymore.

[@joekerr9197]

Just for your information the Hanoverians weren't of Saxon ancestry at all...they were in fact Frankish-Italian (Lombard). In fact James II married Mary of Modena of Este family and was booted from the throne because of it. The irony is in the fact the Este family was a younger branch of this dynasty originally referred to as "Obertenghi", the elder branch moved to Germany and adopted the name "Welf" or "Guelph" from another dynasty...Hanoverians were a branch of this German branch.

[@Cocarat206]

You can vote politicians out of office. I mean, sure, you can have bad elected officials, but you can vote them out of office if need be. With a king, you can end up with a bad leader for a few decades. And in modern times, it's not just a matter of cutting their head off. Governments have all sorts of weaponry now that I wouldn't want in the hands of one man.

[@jondow7401]

is this just scottish people shitposting about england

[@jzneter736]

Nah, its far better than that

[@northscot9862]

If yer Sassenach whit the fuck are ye ARE YE DAEN HERE awa ye go. SAOR ALBA GU BRATH

[@TomorrowWeLive]

Pretty much. Also (indirectly) Germans, which to them were basically the same

[@Cocarat206]

Well, according to both the CIA World Factbook and the UN Human Development report of 2011, most of the DEVELOPED world that actually has democracy has between 90% to 100% literacy rates. So that's my interwebz, whats yours? And we have gotten better results. Standards of living, human rights, and general well-being has shot up in the past century or so, at least in countries that have traded in dictators and kings for relatively functional (but still flawed!) democracies.

[@AvengingRedHand]

'Well, according to both the CIA World Factbook and the UN Human Development report of 2011, most of the DEVELOPED world that actually has democracy has between 90% to 100% literacy rates. So that's my interwebz, whats yours?' Sure. They set the bar so low that anyone who can read 'Cat in the Hat' is considered literate. I'm talking about a person who can read and write intelligently. 'And we have gotten better results.' L.O.L. (cont.)

[@ingridlinbohm7682]

Deutschland Deutschland !

[@Frogs4truthNjustice]

We don't want any monarchy.