---
title: "Election Ballad for Westerha’"
author: "Robert Burns"
form: "Song"
year: "1789"
tune: "Up and waur them a’, Willie"
location: "Ellisland"
source: "Project Gutenberg #1279 — Poems and Songs of Robert Burns"
source_url: "https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/1279/pg1279.txt"
canonical_url: "https://robert-burns.com/poems/election-ballad-for-westerha/"
---

# Election Ballad for Westerha’

## Song
The Laddies by the banks o’ Nith  
Wad trust his Grace wi a’, Jamie;  
But he’ll sair them, as he sair’d the King—  
Turn tail and rin awa’, Jamie.

*Chorus*  
Up and waur them a’, Jamie,  
Up and waur them a’;  
The Johnstones hae the guidin o’t,  
Ye turncoat Whigs, awa’!

The day he stude his country’s friend,  
Or gied her faes a claw, Jamie,  
Or frae puir man a blessin wan,  
That day the Duke ne’er saw, Jamie.

*Chorus*  
Up and waur them a’, Jamie,  
Up and waur them a’;  
The Johnstones hae the guidin o’t,  
Ye turncoat Whigs, awa’!

But wha is he, his country’s boast?  
Like him there is na twa, Jamie;  
There’s no a callent tents the kye,  
But kens o’ Westerha’, Jamie.

*Chorus*  
Up and waur them a’, Jamie,  
Up and waur them a’;  
The Johnstones hae the guidin o’t,  
Ye turncoat Whigs, awa’!

To end the wark, here’s Whistlebirk,  
Lang may his whistle blaw, Jamie;  
And Maxwell true, o’ sterling blue;  
And we’ll be Johnstones a’, Jamie.

*Chorus*  
Up and waur them a’, Jamie,  
Up and waur them a’;  
The Johnstones hae the guidin o’t,  
Ye turncoat Whigs, awa’!

## Footnotes
1. The fourth Duke of Queensberry, who supported the proposal that, during George III’s illness, the Prince of Wales should assume the Government with full prerogative.

---

Source: [Project Gutenberg #1279 — Poems and Songs of Robert Burns](https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/1279/pg1279.txt)  
Canonical HTML: https://robert-burns.com/poems/election-ballad-for-westerha/