Freedom and Scots People

The Freedom Come All Ye

This magnificent song was written by Hamish Henderson in 1960 for the peace marchers at the Holy Loch near Glasgow. The tune is the World War I pipe march, ‘The Bloody Fields of Flanders’.Henderson wrote this song for the marchers at … more »
Both Sides of the Tweed

These verses are an attack upon the Treaty of Union of 1707, which abolished the independent Scottish and English Parliaments and set up the United Kingdom. The Tweed is the river that forms part of the Scottish-English border and it is used here as … more »
Ding Dong Dollar

A song to prove that protesting in favour of peace need not be depressing. This became the anthem of the Scottish Anti-Polaris movement of the 1960s and beyond. In 1960 an American nuclear submarine base was established in the Holy Loch near Glasgow. … more »
If It Wisnae for the Union

A song in praise of trade unionism.This song was written by Glasgow songmaker extraordinare Matt McGinn. He based the lyric on, and took the tune from, a popular old Scottish song in praise of the weavers.If it wasnae for the weavers what would we do?We … more »
Who Pays the Piper?

Nancy Nicolson, one of Scotland’s finest contemporary songwriters in the traditional style, wrote this angry questioning lament for the men of the Piper Alpha oil rig who lost their lives in an explosion and fire in 1988. 167 men died, only 59 … more »
Winter Night

This song combines an old Gaelic tune, a Russian poem remade by a Scots maker, two Scots traditional singers and four classically trained Russian singers. The song performed here by Christine Kydd, Ewan McVicar, and the Chorus Quartet of the city of … more »
MacPherson's Rant

A song about an injustice.The story of the song is largely true.James MacPherson was an outlaw in the North East of Scotland, one of the travelling people and the leader of a band of robbers. He was said to have been generous to and popular with … more »
Sic a Parcel of Rogues

A song that protests bitterly about the Union of Scotland and England in 1707. It is usually said that this song was composed by Robert Burns, but he did not himself claim it. Robert Chambers included it in his collection of Scottish Songs Prior … more »
Johnnie O Breadislie

A gallant poacher gets his weapons and dogs ready to steal the King’s deer. His mother worries. He fights the King’s gamekeepers and beats them.This is a very Scottish ballad in character and location. One version says it happened in Durrisdeer … more »
The Rovin Ploughboy

When the song was collected by Hamish Henderson from John MacDonald, who was a mole and rat-catcher by profession and lived in Pitgaveny, Elgin, Mr MacDonald sang an additional verse.This is quite a puzzling bothy ballad.The girl seems to want … more »