Soldier's Joy
The tunes ‘Soldier’s Joy” and “Sodger Laddie” were used by Robert Burns
as settings for two songs in his cantata “Love and Liberty”
or, as it is better known today, “The Jolly Beggars”.
“Sodger Laddie” (See also “Sodger Laddie”) was used for the song that begins:
I once was a maid, tho’ I cannot tell when,
And still my delight is in proper young men.
Some one of a troop of dragoons was my daddie:
No wonder I’m fond of a sodger laddie!
Sing, lal de dal, etc.
“Soldier’s Joy” was the setting for:
I am a son of Mars, who have been in many wars,
And show my cuts and scars wherever I come:
This here was for a wench, and that other in a trench,
When welcoming the French at the sound of the drum.
Lal de daudle, etc.
From “Scotland Dances”, by Eugenia (Jeannie) Callander Sharp
(Used by permission.)