The White Cockade

polka

Key signature: Gmajor

Submitted on February 7th 2004 by tufbo.

This tune has been added to 61 tunebooks.

Also known as White Cockade.

Recordings of a tune by this name:

• A North Country Barn Dance by The Morpeth Ranters
• An Irish Evening by The Chieftains
• Jimmy's Fancy by Jimmy Shand
• Music Of The Fiddle - Vol 5 by Ron Gonnella
• New England Chestnuts Vol. 2 by Rodney Miller, Randy Miller And Friends
• New England Chestnuts Volumes 1 and 2: Classic New England Contra Music by Various Artists
• Portrait Of A Scottish Jew's Harp Player by Lindsay Porteous
• Swarbrick 1 by Dave Swarbrick
• The Road Out Of Town by The Itinerant Band
• Whistle O'er The Lave O't by Alex Green

X: 1
T: White Cockade, The
M: 2/4
L: 1/8
R: polka
K: Gmaj
|:G/A/| BB BA/G/| dB Bg/e/| dB c/B/A/G/| BA AG/A/|
BB c/B/A/G/| Bd g>a| b/a/g/f/ e/f/g/e/| dB B :|
|:B/c/| dB gB| d/^c/d/e/ dB/=c/| dB/d/ gf/g/| aA AG/A/|
BB/d/ c/B/A/G/| Bd g>a| b/a/g/f/ e/f/g/e/| dB B :|

Chieftains

This tune can be heard on The Chieftains: An Irish Evening. They pair it up with Lilebolero and it sounds great.

Johnathan

# Posted on February 7th 2004 by Harper_Lad

I have to agree, I think it's the change from G to D in this tune that makes it special as well as the fade into Lilibalero.
Can anyone explain the ethnic significance of mixing these two tunes? I'm guessing one's Catholic based and one's Protestant, but I'm afraid I don't know which is which?

# Posted on April 10th 2004 by djimbo

Another tune played by the Allegheny Highland musicians of the USA... collected from musicians born in the 1800s in Pennsylvania... the same version of the tune.

# Posted on July 26th 2004 by The Merry Highlander

Alternative version

Their's a variant of this tune that I've come across several times in the re-enactment scene, and goes by the name "The Blue Bonnet". It's played more like a hornpipe/scottische and goes something like:

X: 2
T:Blue Bonnet
M:4/4
L:1/8
R:hornpipe
K:Gmajor
|: GA | B>GB>d c>BA>G | BGBd g2 GA | B>GB>d c>BA>G | FGAB A2 GA|
B>GB>d c>BA>G | (3BGB (3ded g2 ga | bagf efge | d2 (3GAG G2 :|
: Bc | d2 B2 g2 Bc | dcde d2 Bc | d2 B2 g2 fg | a2 A2 A2 GA |
B>GB>d c>BA>G | (3BGB (3ded g2 ga | bagf efge | d2 (3GAG G2 :|

but the triplets seem to shift around between repeats.

# Posted on March 19th 2008 by andy9876

Possible name origin

I'm not sure where this tune comes from, but Jacobite soldiers wore white cockades in the 18th century as a symbol of the deposed Stuart dynasty...maybe significant.

# Posted on June 22nd 2008 by jasonb

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cockade

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacobite_rising

# Posted on June 22nd 2008 by jasonb

This is the tune to which the words of the Red Flag were first put. It seems a bit of a stretch but it was sung on TG4 a couple of nights ago and it worked well. The name of the singer escapes me but he had a Dublin accent which added authenticity. The Red Flag is now more commonly sung to the German carol Tannenbaum (Christmas Tree).

# Posted on March 2nd 2009 by Ciotog

The White Cockade: A Scots Measure

This tune is, properly speaking, a Scots Measure (which is why it doesn't look or sound at all like a polka).
Notes on another Scots Measure (Bonny Highland Laddie) here:
http://www.thesession.org/tunes/display/6267

# Posted on June 5th 2009 by whistleblower