Cauld Kail in Aberdeen

'There's cauld Kail in Aiberdeen' is a poem colleckit bi Robert Burns, frae the Scotland period. It is etherly kent bi the name o 'There's cauld kail in Aberdeen, and castocks in Strabogie'.

Meanin o the sang

This sang is said tae hae different meanin, bat is maist a jayfull sang, whilka is sang wi joy. It coud hae the fallawin meanin: the puirness o the peasant is said tae interrupt the dish (cogie), he widna gie it sae precious it is, far it hae the importance o the life in the Medieval eige.

Wit is ca'd kail in Aiberdeen? The cogie, in Inglis: 'broth'.

The sang itself

Owerwird (efter each morceau)

Ma coggie, Sirs, ma coggie, Sirs,

I cannae want ma coggie:

I wadna gie ma three-girr'd cap,

For e'er a quean on Bogie.

1.

There's cauld "kail" in Aberdeen*,

An "castocks" in Strabogie,

When ilka lad maun hae 'is lass,

Then fye, gie me ma coggie.

2.

There's Johnie Smith has got a wife

That scrimps him o' his coggie,

If she were mine, upon ma life

I wad douk her in a bogie.

Sang bi

This sang is sang bi Ewan MacColl in the album Songs of Robert Burns.

Articles outwith

• The 'Scots Musical Museum' - Volume II, song 162, page 170 - 'Cauld Kail in Aberdeen' Archived 2015-02-21 at the Wayback Machine (frae Burns Scotland wabsteid)
• Cauld Kail in Aberdeen Archived 2013-03-06 at the Wayback Machine (frae Glasgow Guide wabsteid)