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This Is No My Ain House

[ Roud 3790 ; G/D 1:119 ; Ballad Index GrD1119 ; trad.]

David Herd: Ancient and Modern Scottish Songs, Heroic Ballads, etc., Second Volume

Ewan MacColl sang This Is No My Ain House on his 1962 Topic album The Jacobite Rebellions. He noted:

This beautiful song, written in the form of an allegory, is a perfect example of the skill shown by the Jacobite songwriters. The ‘house’ referred to is, of course, Scotland; ‘my daddy’ is the exiled Stuart king; and the ‘cringing foreign goose’ is the Hanoverian usurper.

Lyrics

Ewan MacColl sings This Is No My Ain House

Chorus (after each verse):
This is no’ my ain house,
My ain house, my ain house,
This is no’ my ain house,
I ken by the biggin o’t.

A carle came wi’ lack o’ grace,
Wi’ unco gear and unco face;
And sin’ he claimed my daddy’s place,
I downa bide the triggin o’t.

Wi’ routh o’ kin and routh o’ reek,
My daddy’s door it wouldna steek;
But bread and cheese were his door-cheek,
And girdle-cakes the riggin’ o’t.

My daddy bag his housie weel,
By dint o’ head and dint o’ heel,
By dint o’ arm and dint o’ steel,
And muckle weary priggin o’t.

Then was it dink, or was it douce,
For ony cringing foreign goose,
To claucht my daddy’s wee bit house
And spoil the hamely triggin o’t?

Say was it foul or was it fair
To come a hunder mile and mair,
For to ding out by daddy’s heir,
And dash him wi’ the wiggin o’t?