Aiken Drum
Version 2

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Lesley Nelson
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This tune first appears as a nursery rhyme in Percy Society's Early English Poetry, Ballads, and Popular Literature of the Middle Ages (1841). The name in the original nursery rhyme is Edrin Drum.

According to Traditional Folksongs and Ballads of Scotland by John Loesberg, the tune dates to "at least the 18th century or earlier" and in James Hogg's Jacobite Relics of Scotland (1821), there is a political song circa 1715 with the chorus "Aikendrum, Aikendrum" but it was evidently to a different tune. The lyrics and tune of the Jacobite tune can be found at Aiken Drum (1).

Aiken Drum is supposed to be the tune for Piper o' Dundee. Based on this version, Piper is a very different tune. However, as with most folk/traditional music, this, or a variant may have been used for those words at some time.

There was a man lived in the moon,
lived in the moon, lived in the moon
There was a man lived in the moon,
And his name was Aiken Drum.
And he played upon a ladle,
a ladle, a ladle
And he played upon a ladle,
and his name was Aiken Drum.
And his hat was made of good cream cheese,
of good cream cheese, of good cream cheese,
And his hat was made of good cream cheese
And his name was Aiken Drum.
And he played upon a ladle,
a ladle, a ladle
And he played upon a ladle,
and his name was Aiken Drum.
And his coat was made of good roast beef,
of good roast beef, of good roast beef,
And his coat was made of good roast beef,
And his name was Aiken Drum.
And he played upon a ladle,
a ladle, a ladle
And he played upon a ladle,
and his name was Aiken Drum.
And his buttons made of penny loaves,
of penny loaves, of penny loaves,
And his buttons made of penny loaves,
And his name was Aiken Drum.
And he played upon a ladle,
a ladle, a ladle
And he played upon a ladle,
and his name was Aiken Drum.
And his breeches made of haggis bags
of haggis bags, of haggis bags
And his breeches made of haggis bags,
and his name was Aiken Drum.
And he played upon a ladle,
a ladle, a ladle
And he played upon a ladle,
and his name was Aiken Drum.
From The Fireside Book of Children's Songs
See Bibliography for full information.
Some information from Digital Tradition.