02:07 Mar 13, 2009 |
English language (monolingual) [PRO] Art/Literary - Folklore / Scottish song | |||||||
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| Selected response from: Gary D Local time: 00:18 | ||||||
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SUMMARY OF ALL EXPLANATIONS PROVIDED | ||||
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5 | to gang to the coals I (go) this morning |
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to gang to the coals I (go) this morning Explanation: The full English Translation.. http://www.worldburnsclub.com/poems/translations/430.htm And version II http://www.mysongbook.de/msb/songs/j/johnnyco.html The familiar air to which Johnnie Cope is sung is much older than Skirving's song, and was associated with a set of verses, some of which Burns remembered, the refrain being - Will ye go to the coals in the morning? Some editors have held that the word 'coals' in Skirving's effusion should be 'hills'. But it is worth noting that the battle ground of Tranent lies in the midst of a coalfield, from which Edinburgh had for centuries been supplied with most of the fuel which it required; and that being so, the expression To gang to the coals i' the morning embraces a withering sarcasm which, by the use of the word 'hills', or any other, could certainly not have been achieved. |
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