David Shaw
Shaw was a weaver-poet of Forfar (1786-1856). As the story is fairly common, Shaw may well have adapted existing material. When it moved into folk currency, the text was altered and it was sung to many different tunes such as Johny Ladd, The Quaker Wife, and Robin Tamson’s Smiddy.
In Forfar country I was born But faith I div think shame, sir Tae tell o the weary life I led Afore I left my hame, sir Hurra, hurra, wi my tilt a fal air al aye doh My faither was a weaver poor As iver reeled a spool, sir And niver was meat came tae wir door But juist a pun at Yule, sir When I was six, I gaed tae school Because it was the fashion And ivery Sunday tae the kirk Tae save me o a thrashin Thay learnt me thare tae read and write And learnt the rule o three, sir But a nobler thought came tae my mind A sodger I would be, sir So I gaed doun tae Forfar town All in the Forfar County And I signed up wi Sergeant Brown For forty pounds o boonty Thay gaed me claes tae hap ma back And mittens for my hands, sir Swore I was the bravest chiel In aw the Hielan’ clan, sir We spent the maist o aw our time Juist marchin up and doun, sir Wi a feather bonnet tae wir cap And peuthered tae wir croun, sir Bit fegs thay gart me change ma tune And sent me aff tae Spain, sir Thare war forty regiments in a row Came marchin ower the plain, sir For three long days and nichts we focht I thought ‘twould never end, sir Til a bullet came fusslin throu ma leg And I up and fired again, sir The surgeon came and dressed ma wounds He said I would be lame, sir But I got haud o twa oxter staffs And I came hirplin hame, sir Nou aw the things that I’ve been throu I’ve scarcely time tae mention For now I’m back in Forfarshire And livin fae my pension