Ewan MacColl: 1915 - 1989
A Political Journey

Ewan singing
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Introduction and timeline Formative years Theatre Music Radio

Scottish folksongs
and ballads

Preface

The songs in this book have been five hundred years in the making; they range from the great ballads of the past to the simple jingles and catches of the city streets. Some of them are as near perfect as songs can be, others are as rough as a lump of pig iron. Some of them were already old when Burns, the master ploughman of Ayrshire, took them and stamped them with his own personal seal of greatness, others are still wet behind the ears. Some have the matchless perfection of stones shaped by the sea's movement, others are as brash as a Glasgow football crowd. They were made by professional bards and by unknown poets at the ploughstilts and the handloom.

All the beauty, the joy, the hope of Scotland is in these songs and all the bitterness and frustration too. They are tender, harsh, passionate, ironical, simple, profound as varied, indeed, as our Scots landscape.
Men and women sing for a variety of reasons; sometimes because they are happy and sometimes to give utterance to a dream. They sing because they exult in the joy of livíng and because they are lonely and unhappy. Sometimes a song is a protest against the misuse of power and sometimes it is an affirmation of the singer's belief in humanity. It can be all of these things and it can be a cry out of the night, a savage cry compounded of hatred, bitterness and despair. Poverty and humiliation have made our people familiar with these emotions and if many of our songs are violent then that is because life can be violent too.

Only a very small part of our music is represented here and the music of Gaelic Scotland is not represented at all, for that is a field too vast to be encompassed in this small book.
Finally,this is not a volume for collectors and experts but for singers, particularly those young singers who wish to become acquainted with the riches of our national heritage.

The songs have been taken from the great collections of Herd, Chambers, Johnson and Greig and from living singers like John Strachan of Fyvie, Jimmy MacBeth, Willy Mathieson and others. It is to men such as these and to all the unknown sweet and raucous singers from the places where men work that we give our thanks, for they have preserved our national music. We are their heirs; may we be worthy of them!

Ewan MacColl, 1953

CONTENTS


LORD RANDALL Learned in childhood from Betsy Miller.
THE DOWIE DENS OF YARROW Learned from William Miller of Stirling.
SIR PATRICK SPENS Learned from William Miller of Stirling.
THE BURNING 0' AUCHENDOWN From William Miller of Stirling, collated with the version in Child's "Ballads"
EPPIE MORRIE. Learned from William Miller of Stirling and Samuel Wylie of Falkirk. Collated with version in Child's "Ballads".
THE SOUTERS 0' SELKIRK From Chambers's "Songs of Scotland".
MY LAST FAREWELL TO STIRLING. Text and tune from the singing of Willie Mathieson of Castleton, near Banff, and Jamie Taylor- of Wyvie. Contributed by Hamish Henderson.
VAN DIEMENS' LAND Text from Ord's "Bothy Songs & Ballads. Tune: The Banks of Sweet Dundee".
SUPERINTENDENT BARRATT. From "Songs o' the Stane" published by the Scottish National Congress. Words by Maurice Blythman ("Thurso Berwick"). Tune: "Barbara Allen".
MacPHERSON'S FAREWELL From the singing of Jimmie MacBeth of ELgin. Contributed by Hamish Henderson.
KISSIN'S NO SIN . From Robert Chamber's "Historical Essay on Scottish Song".
THE KEACH IN THE CREEL. From Greig' s "Traditional Ballads".
TAIL TODDLE From the singing of Hamish Henderson, additional text from Burn's "Merry Muses".
THE REEL O' STUMPIE. From Allan Cunningham's "Songs of Scotland".
MAGGIE LAUDER From Herd's "Collection".
MORMOND BRAES From Ord's "Bothy Songs & Ballads".
ALAN MacLEAN From the singing of Willie Mathieson of Castleton,near Banff. Contributed by Hamish Henderson.
MY BONNIE LAD'S LANG A-GROWING. From the singing of Betsy Miller of Auchterarder.
THE COLLIER LADDIE From the singing of Isabell Henry of Auchterarder.
THE BREWER LADDIE From the singing of William Miller of Stirling. Additional verses from versions in Ord's "Bothy Songs & Ballads" and Kidson's "Traditional Tunes".
THE BARNYARD'S O' DELGATY. From Ord's "Bothy Songs & Ballads"
THE BONNIE LAD
THAT HANDLES THE PLOUGH.

From Ord's "Bothy Songs & Ballads".
THE WORKING CHAP From Ord's "Bothy Songs & Ballads".
NICKY TAMS From the singing of David Johnson of Cupar-.
JAMIE FOYERS Old version from the singing of Betsy Miller of Auchterarder. Words of modern version by Ewan MacColl
THE WARS O' GERMANIE. From Christies "Ballad Airs.
THE HIGHLAND MUSTER ROLL From the singing of William Miller of Stirling. Additional verses from Chamber's Songs of Scotland'
THE WEE GERMAN LAIRDIE From Hogg's "Jacobite Relics"
YE JACOBITES BY NAME. From Hogg's "Jacobite Relics".
SCOTS WHA HAE. Words by Burns. Tune: Hey tutti tattie.
CAULD KAIL IN ABERDEEN From Johnson's "Musical Museum".
ANDRO & HIS CUTTY GUN From Ramsey's "Tea Table Miscellany".
THE SOUTHERS' FEAST. Text from Willie Mathieson of Castleton,near Banff.Tune from Arthur Argo of Fyvie. Contributed by Hamish Henderson.
THE WARK O' THE WEAVERS. From the singing of David Johnson of Cupar
TO THE WEAVERS GIN YE GO Words by Burns, based on an old song.
THE CALTON WEAVER. From the singing of Hughie Martin of Shettleston, Glasgow. Additional words from Ord's "Bothy Songs & Ballads".
THE WEE COOPER O' FIFE From the Scottish Students Songbook
LAUCHIE WILSON. From the singing of William Miller of Stirling.
THE COLLIER'S BONNIE LASSIE From Cunnlngham's "Songs of Scotland'.
SIX JOLLY MINERS From Lloyd's "Come all ye bold mIners" and the W.M.A's "Coaldust Ballads".
THE BLANTYRE EXPLOSION From Lloyd's "Come all ye bold mIners" and the W.M.A's "Coaldust Ballads"
FITBA' CRAZY. From the singing of William Miller
THE DAY WE WENT TO ROTHESAY. From the singing of William Miller.
JOHNNIE LAD. From the singing of William Miller
HIGHLAND BALOU From Johnson's "Musical Museum".
COCK O' THE MIDDEN From the singing of Archie Patterson of Dundee.
I AM GAUN TO THE GARRETT. From Ord's "Bothy Songs & Ballads".
JOHNNIE LAD. Version from the singing or Hamish Henderson

Introduction and timeline
Formative years Theatre Music Radio
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