Live in Concert Disk 1

Disk 1


Introduction

Willie’s Gone to Melville Castle

The Road to Dundee

Pipes in the Glenn

River

Mary Ellen Carter

The Battles O’er

Ceiledh Medley

Return to Kintail

Sitting on the Stern of a Boat

Paddy Fahey’s Jig

The Weeping Birches of Kilorack and Madame Neruda

Jig O’Slurs, Athole Highlander and the Fairy Dance

Disk 2


Introduction

Highland Piping Medley

The Green Fields of France

Mary Mack

A Scottish Soldier

Richard McIlvery Introduction

Alasdiar Fraser Introduction

Fiddle Medley

Fiddle and Highland Pipe Medley

Song for Ireland

Mrs. MacLeod of Rassay and Scotland the Brave

Pipes In The Glen


Twas in the summer of ’45,

The Young Pretender did arrive

And the misty highlands came alive

At Glenfinnan, by the loch-side shore.


The royal standard soon was raised.

With power and charm he set ablaze

The chieftain’s hearts to join the fray,

Oh Scotia, the lions roar.


Chorus:

And we’ll march in the name of brave Charlie.

Hear the cries o’ the highland men.

“Should we stand as one, we’ll march in the sun

To the sound o’ the pipes in the glen,

To the sound o’ the pipes in the glen.”


With claymores drawn against the crown,

Jacobites stood on higher ground.

As Charlie spoke there was ne’er a sound,

‘Cept the rustle of the heather floor.


Then a roar went up for the rightful king

And the courage that his words could bring.

So voices through the years could sing

Of Charlie for evermore.


Chorus


River

by Bill Staines


I was born in the path of the winter wind,

I was raised where the mountains are old.

Their springtime waters came dancing down,

And I remember the tales they told.

The whistling ways of my younger days

Too quickly have faded on by,

But all of their memories linger on

Like the light in a fading sky.


Chorus:

River, take me along

In your sunshine, sing me a song

Ever moving, and winding and free;

You rolling old river, you changing old river,

Let's you and me, river, run down to the sea.


I've been to the city and back again,

I've been moved by some things that I've learned;

Met a lot of good people and I’ve called them friends

Felt the change when the seasons turned.

I've heard all the songs that the children sing,

And listened to love's melodies;

I've felt my own music within me rise

Like the wind in the autumn trees.


Chorus


Someday when the flowers are blooming still

Someday when the grass is still green

My rolling waters will round the bend

And flow into the open sea.

So here's to the rainbow that's followed me here,

And here's to the friends that I know;

And here's to the song that's within me now

I will sing it where'er I go.


Chorus


Mary Mack

(air: 'Up among the heather')


There's a nice wee lass and her name is Mary Mack

Mak’ no mistake, she's the miss I'm goin' to tak'

There's a lot of other chaps would get upon her track

But I'm thinking that they'd have to get up early


Chorus:

Mary Mack's father's makin’ Mary Mack marry me

My father's making me marry Mary Mack

I'm goin’ tae marry Mary to get married and tak’ care o' me

We'll a’ be mahin’ merry when I marry Mary Mack


Now, Mary and her mother gang awfa’ lot the gither

In fact ye never ever see the one or one without the other

The fellows often winner if it’s Mary or her mother

Or the both o’ them the gither that I'm courtin’


Chorus


Now, the weddin’ day's on Wednesday and everything's arranged

Her name will soon be changed tae mine, unless her mind be changed

And wi’ making the arrangements, faith, I'm just about deranged

For marriage is an awfa’ undertaking


Chorus


It's sure tae be a grand affair and grander than a fair

A coach and pair for rich and peer and every pair that's there

We'll dine upon the finest fare, I'm sure tae git my share

If I don't we’ll be very much mistaken


Chorus


Scotland The Brave


Hark when the night is falling,

Hear, hear the pipes are calling,

Loudly and proudly calling,

Down thro' the glen.

There where the hills are sleeping,

Now feel the blood a-leaping,

High as the spirits of the old Highland men.


Chorus

Towering in gallant fame,

Scotland my mountain hame,

High may your proud standards gloriously wave,

Land of my high endeavour,

Land of the shining river,

Land of my heart forever,

Scotland the brave.


High in the misty Highlands

Out by the purple islands,

Brave are the hearts that beat

Beneath Scottish skies.

Wild are the winds to meet you,

Staunch are the friends that greet you,

Kind as the love that shines from fair maidens' eyes.


Chorus


Chorus


Land of my heart forever,

Scotland the brave.

A Scottish Soldier


There was a soldier, a Scottish soldier,

Who wandered far away and soldiered far away.

There was none bolder, with good broad shoulder,

He fought in many a fray. And fought and won!

He'd seen the glory and told the story,

of battles glorious and deeds victorious.

But now he's sighing, his heart is crying,

To leave these green hills of Tyrol.


Chorus:

Because these green hills are not Highland hills.

Or the island hills they're not my land's hills!

And fair as these green foreign hills may be,

They are not the hills of home.


And now the soldier, this Scottish soldier,

Who'd wandered far away and soldiered far away;

Sees leaves are falling and death is calling,

And he will fade away, in that far land!

He called his piper, his trusty piper,

And bade him sound a lay, a pibroch sad to play.

Upon a hillside, but Scottish hillside,

Not on these green hills of Tyrol.


Chorus


And so this soldier, this Scottish soldier

Will wander far no more and soldier far no more.

And on a hillside, a Scottish hillside,

You’ll see a piper play His Soldier home!

He’d seen the glory, he’d told the story,

Of battles glorious and deeds victorious,

The bugles cease now, he is at peace now,

Far from those green hills of Tyrol.


Chorus

Song for Ireland

Phil Colclough


Walking all the day

Near tall towers where falcons build their nests

Silver winged they fly,

They know the call of freedom in their breasts

Saw black head against the sky

Where twisted rocks run down to the sea


Chorus:

Living on your western shore,

Saw summer sunsets, asked for more

I stood by your Atlantic sea

And I sang a song for Ireland


Talking all the day

With true friends, who try to make you stay

Telling jokes and news,

Singing songs to pass the night away

Watched the Galway salmon run

Like silver dancing darting in the sun


Drinking all the day

In old pubs where fiddlers love to play

Someone touched the bow,

He played a reel, it seemed so fine and gay

Stood on Dingle beach and cast,

In wild foam we found Atlantic Bass


Chorus


Dreaming in the night,

I saw a land where no one had to fight

Waking in your dawn,

I saw you crying in the morning light

Lying where the Falcons fly,

They twist and turn all in you e'er blue sky


Chorus

Willie’s Gone To Melville Castle


Chorus:

Willie’s gone to Melville Castle

Boots an’ spurs an’ a’

To bid the ladies a’ farewell

Before he gaes awa’

Willie’s young an’ blythe an’ bonnie

Lo’ed by one an’ a’

O what will a’ the lasses do

When Willie gaes awa’


The first he met was Lady Kate

She led him thro’ the ha’

And wi’ a sad and sorry heart

She let the tears doon fa’

Beside the fire stood Lady Grace

Said ne’er a word at a’

She thocht that she was sure o’ him

Before he gaed awa’


Chorus


Then ben the house came Lady Bell

Gude troth ye needna craw

Maybe the lad will fancy me

An’ disappoint ye a’

Doon the stair tript Lady Jean

The flow’r among them a’

Oh lasses trust in providence

And ye’ll get husbands a’


Chorus


When on his horse he rode awa’

They gathered round the door

He gaily wav’d his bonnet blue

They set up sic a roar

Their cries their tears brought Willie back

He kiss’d them one an’ a’

Oh lasses bide till I come hame

And then I’ll wed ye a’


Chorus



The Mary Ellen Carter


She went down last October

in a pouring driving rain

The skipper he’d been drinking

and the mate he felt no pain

Too close to three mile rock

and she was dealt her mortal blow

And the Mary Ellen Carter settled low

There were just us five aboard her

when she finally was awash

We worked like hell

to save her all heedless of the cost

And the groan she gave

as she west down it caused us to proclaim

That the Mary Ellen Carter would rise again


Well the owners wrote her off,

not a nickel would they spend

She gave twenty years of service,

boys, then met her sorry end

But insurance paid the loss to us,

so let her rest below

Then they laughed at us

and said we had to go

But we talked of her all winter,

some days around the clock

She’s worth a quarter million,

afloat and at the dock

And with every jar that hit the bar,

we swore we would remain

And make the Mary Ellen Carter rise again


Chorus:

Rise again rise again

That her name not be lost

to the knowledge of men

All those who loved her best

and were with her ‘til the end

Will make the Mary Ellen Carter rise again


All spring now we’ve been with her

on a barge lent by a friend

Three dives a day in a hardhat suit

and twice I’ve had the bends

Thank God it’s only sixty feet

and the currents here are slow

Or I’d never have the strength to go below

But we’ve patched her rents,

stopped her vents,

dogged hatch and porthole down

Put cables to her, ‘fore and aft

and girded her around

Tomorrow, noon, we hit the air

and then take up the strain

And make the Mary Ellen Carter rise again


For we couldn’t leave her there,

you see, to crumble into scale

She’d saved our lives so many times,

living through the gale

And the laughing, drunken rats

who left her to a sorry grave

They won’t be laughing in another day

And you, to whom adversity

has dealt the final blow

With smiling bastards,

lying to you everywhere you go

Turn to, and put Out all your strength

of arm and heart and brain

And, like the Mary Ellen Carter rise again!


Chorus



The Road To Dundee


Cauld winter was howlin' o'er muir and o'er mountain,

And wild was the surge of the dark rolling sea,

When I met about daybreak a bonnie young lassie,

Wha’ asked me the road and the miles to Dundee.


Says I, "My young lassie, I canna' weel tell ye,

The road and the distance I canna' weel gi’e.

But if you'll permit me tae gang a wee bittie,

I'll show you the road and the miles to Dundee".


At once she consented and gave me her arm,

Ne'er a word did I speir wha the lassie might be,

She appeared like an angel in feature and form,

As she walked by my side on the road to Dundee


At length wi' the Howe o' Strathmartine behind us,

The spires o' the toon in full view we could see,

She said "Gentle Sir, I can never forget ye

For showing me so far on the road to Dundee".









This ring and this purse prove to you I am grateful.

And some simple token I trust you’ll gi’e me;

And in years to come I’ll the laddie remember

That showed me so far on the road to Dundee.


I took the gowd pin from the scarf on my bosom

And said "Keep ye this in remembrance o' me”

Then bravely I kissed the sweet lips o' the lassie,

E'er I parted wi' her on the road to Dundee.


So here's to the lassie - I ne'er can forget her,

And ilka young laddie that's list'ning to me,

O never be sweer to convoy a young lassie

Though it's only to show her the road to Dundee.


The Battle’s O’er

(Andy Stewart)


I return to the fields of glory

Where the green grass and flowers grow

And the wind softly sings the story

Of the brave lads of long ago


In the Great Glen they lie a sleeping

Where the cool waters gently flow

And the grey mist is sadly weeping

For the brave lads of long ago


Chorus

March no more my soldier laddie

There is peace where there once was war

Sleep in peace my soldier laddie

Sleep in peace now the battle’s o’er


See the tall grass is there a waving

As their flags were so long ago

With their heads high were forward braving

Marching onwards to meet the foe


Some returned from the fields of glory

To their loved ones who held them dear

But some fell in their hour of glory.

And were left to their resting here


Chorus



The Green Fields of France


Well, how do you do young Private Macbride

Do you mind if I sit here down by your graveside

And rest for awhile ‘neath the warm summer sun

I’ve been walking all day and I’m nearly done

I see by your gravestone you were only nineteen

When you joined the Great Fallen is 1916

I hope you died quick and I hope you died clean

Or William Macbride was it slow and obscene


Chorus:

Did they beat the drum slowly,

Did they play the fife lowly

Did the rifles fire o’er ye as they lowered you down

Did the bugle sound the last post and chorus

Did the pipes play the Flowers of the Forest


Did you leave any wife or a sweetheart behind

In some faithful heart is your memory enshrined

Although you died back there in 1916

In that faithful heart are you forever nineteen

Or are you a stranger without eves a name

Enclosed there forever behind some glass pane

In an old photograph torn, tattered and stained

And fading to yellow in a brown leather frame


Chorus


Oh the sun now it shines on the Green Fields of France

There’s a warm summer breeze it makes the Red Poppies dance

And see how the trenches are vanished ‘neath the plow

There’s no gas, no barbed wire, there’re no guns firing now

But here in this graveyard, it’s still no mans land

The countless white crosses in mute witness stand

To mans blind indifference to his fellow man

And a whole generation that was butchered and damned


Chorus


Ah young Private Macbride I can’t help wonderin’ why

Do those that lie here know why they died

And did they believe when they answered the call

Did they really believe that this war would end war

Ah the sorrow, the suffering, the glory, the shame

The killing and the dying were all done in vain

For young William Macbride it all happened again

And again and again and again and again


Chorus

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