Annotation:Katie Bairdie
KATIE BAIRDIE. AKA and see "Kafoozalum," "Kette Bairdie," "Old Mrs. Huddledee," "Simon Brodie." Scottish, Air. Several tunes are associated with "Katie Bairdie" rhymes. The title and tune appear in the earliest Scottish fiddlers' MS repertory books (as "Catherine Bairdie") in the Rowallan Manuscript (1612-28?) and the Skene Manuscript (c. 1705, once in the private collection of Francis Collinson). It is a relative of the English nursery rhyme tune "London Bridge is Fallen Down" (see also "Kafooazlum" and "Old Mrs. Huddledee"). Other versions of "Katie Biardie" rhymes have been set to "Simon Brodie" and to "Whistle o'er the Lave o't."
The "Katie Bairdie" rhymes are numerous, in variant and parody form. One version goes:
Katie Beardie had a coo,
Black and white about the mou';
Wasna that a dentie coo?
Dance, Katie Beardie!
Katie Beardie had a hen,
Cackled but and cackled ben;
Wasna that a dentie hen?
Dance, Katie Beardie!
Katie Beardie had a cock,
That could spin backin' rock;
Wasna that a dentie cock?
Dance, Katie Beardie!
Katie Beardie had a grice,
It could skate upon the ice;
Wasna that a dentie grice?
Dance, Katie Beardie!
And another:
Katie Bairdie's wooden leg,
Kicked the bairns oot o' bed;
A' the fleas ran up her leg,
Dance, Katie Bairdie.
See note for "annotation:Kafoozalum" for more.