John Goldie was born in Ayr in 1798 and was educated at the academy there. He later went to Paisley and then Glasgow where he owned a china and stoneware shop. In 1819 he joined the volunteer rifle corps in Paisley and, as a member of the propertied middle class, he was very anti-Radical. In 1821 he returned to Ayr for a time and then tried his luck in London – hoping his poems would ingratiate him with the establishment there but ultimately few were interested. Returning to Scotland, for a time he served in the Ayrshire Yeomanry Cavalry. In 1824 he established the Paisley Advertiser but died from what appears to have been a brain haemorrhage in 1826 at the age of 28.

John Goldie had a volume of poems published in 1822, written both in English and Scots, and made it very clear that he had no time for the Radicals who threatened to overturn the social order. He openly advocated using extreme violence against them. His best known piece in relation to the rising of 1820 is the song he set to the tune of Campbell’s are comin’ as follows:

Ye radical set, that in bodies hae met,

I redd you to part and gang hame, gang hame,

Or faith ye will fin’that it’s nae pleasant thing,

For bullets to riddle your wame, your wame.

           The cavalry’s comin’, gae hame, gae hame,

           Wi’ riflemen rinnin’, gae hame, gae hame,

           The cavalry’s comin’ wi’ riflemen rinnin’,

           Sae radical bodies, gae hame, gae hame.

Ilk delegate chiel has been playin’ the diel,

Wi’ your purses, your cause, & your fame, your fame,

Your pikes and your clegs are owre short in the legs,

For a rifleman’s bullet, gae hame, gae hame.

            The cavalry’s comin’, gae hame, gae hame,

            Wi’ riflemen rinnin’, gae hame, gae hame,

            An’ if ance they begin, they’ll gar a’ your troops

            rin’,

            Tho’ ye were a dizen to ane, to ane.

The night it was set, when your troops should ha’e met,

To conquer or die for your claim, your claim,

But a bugle or drum, diel a out ye wad come,

For ye thought ye were safer at hame, at hame,

             The cavalry’s comin’, gae hame, gae hame,

             Wi’ riflemen rinnin’, gae hame, gae hame,

             When cavalry’s comin’, an riflemen rinnin’,

             A radical’s safest, at hame, at hame.