Tracks:
The Road To The Isles
Westering Home
Loch Tay Boat Song
Morning Glory
Jamie Raeburn
Ramblin’ Rover
Scarborough Settler’s Lament
Take Me Back
The Lea Rig
Willie’s Gone To Melville Castle
Credits:
Alex Beaton—Vocals, Guitar
Bob Gothar—Guitar
Alasdair Fraser— Fiddle
Robin Lorentz — Fiddle
Randy Farrar— Bass, Keyboards
The Road To The Isles
A far croonin’ is pullin’ me away
As tak’ I wi’ my cromak to the road,
The far Coolins are puttin’ love on me
As step I wi’ the sunlight for my load
Chorus:
Sure, by Tummel and Loch Rannoch
And Lochaber I will go,
By heather tracks wi’ heaven in their wiles;
if it’s thinkin’ in you inner heart
Braggart’s in my step.
You’ve never smelt the tangle o’ the Isles.
Oh, the far Coolins are puttin’ love on me,
As step I wi’ my cromak to the Isles.
It’s by Sheil water the track is to the west
By Aillort and by Morar to the sea,
The cool cresses I am thinkin’ o’ for pluck,
And bracken for a wink on mother knee.
Chorus
It’s the blue islands are pullin’ me away,
Their laughter puts the leap upon the lame
The blue islands from the Skerries to the Lews
Wi’ heather honey taste upon each name.
Chorus
Westering Home
Chorus:
Westering home and a song in the air
Light in the eye and it’s goodbye to care
Laughter of love and a welcoming there
Isle of my heart my own one
Tell me of tales of the Orient gay
Speak of the riches and joys of Cathay
Ay! But it’s grand to be waking each day
And find yourself nearer to Islay
Chorus
Where are the folks like the folks of the west
Canty and couthy and kindly the best
There I will hie me and there I will rest
At hame with my ain folk in Islay
Chorus
Loch Tay Boat Song
When I’ve done the work of day
And I row my boat away,
Down the waters of Loch Tay
When the evening light is fading.
And I look upon Ben Lawers
Where she after glory glows.
And I think on two bright eyes,
And the merry mouth below.
She’s my beauteous Nighean ruadh,
My joy and sorrow too,
And although she is untrue,
I cannot live without her,
For my heart’s a boat in tow
And I’d give the world to know,
Why she means to let me go
As I sing haree haroo.
Nighean ruadh, your lovely hair
Holds more glamour I declare,
Than all the tresses rare,
From Killin to Aberfeldy,
Be they lint-
Be they blacker than the sloe,
They are no more worth to me
Than a melting flake of snow.
Her eyes are like the gleam,
Of the sun’s dance on the stream,
And the songs the fairies sing,
Are but songs she sings at milking,
But my heart is foil of woe,
For last night she bade me go,
And the tears begin to flow
As I sing haree haroo.
Well I bore once more for my native shore
Farwell to the raging sea,
And the Cross Keys Inn it was beckoning
And my heart was filled with glee
But there on the shore were the sisters four
With a bundle upon each knee
There were three little girls and a bouncing boy,
And they all looked just like me, singing...
Chorus
Ramblin’ Rover
Chorus:
Oh there’s sober men in plenty
And drunkards barely twenty
There are men of over ninety
That have never yet kissed a girl.
But gie me a Ramblin’ Rover
And frae Orkney down to Dover
We will roam the country over,
And together we’ll face the world
Oh there’s many that feign enjoyment
From merciless employment
Their ambition was this deployment
Since the minute they left school.
They save and scrape and ponder
While the rest go out and squander
See the world and rove and wander
And they’re happier as a rule.
Chorus
I’ve roamed through all the nations
Ta’en delight in all creation,
And I’ve tried a wee sensation
Where the company did prove kind.
And when parting was no pleasure
I’ve drunk another measure
To the good friends that we treasure
For they always are in our minds.
Chorus
If you’re bent with arthiritis,
Your bowels have got colitis,
You’ve gallopin’ bollockitis,
And you’re thinkin’ it’s time you died,
If you’ve been a man of action
Though you’re lyin’ there in traction,
You may gain some satisfaction thinkin’, “Jesus at least I tried!”
Chorus
Scottish Settler’s Lament
Away with Canada’s muddy creeks
And Canada’s fields of pine
Your land of wheat is a goodly land,
But oh it is not mine.
The heathy hill, the mossy dale,
The daisy-
The purling burn and craggy linn,
Old Scotland’s glens give me.
Oh I would like to hear again
The lark on Tinnie’s Hill
Or see the wee bit gowany
That blooms beside the rill,
Like the banished Swiss who views afar
His Alps with longing e’e
I would gaze upon the morning star
That shines on my country.
No more I’ll wend by Eskdale Bend
Nor Pentland’s craggy combe
For the days can ne’er come back again
Of thirty years that’s gone
But fancy oft at midnight’s hour
Will steal across the sea,
For yester e’en in a pleasant dream
I saw my own country.
Each well known scene that met my view
Brought childhood’s joys to mind,
The lark he sang on Tushie Hill,
The song he sang, “Lang Syne”
But like a dream time flies away,
Again the morning came,
And I awoke in Canada,
Three thousand miles frae hame.
Take Me Back
In a far distant land, By a fair and golden strand
There I met a highland laddie in the morning
And he sang me a song as he proudly marched along
O’ the land of lochs and glens and silver seas.
Chorus:
Take me hack, take me hack again
Where the heather hills are high
And I’ll hear the mavis singing in the morning
Oh there’s no place on earth
Like the homeland of my birth
Oh my Scotland I am coming home tae you
Now there’s wonders I have seen
In the countries I have been
And there’s beauty in the land where I have wandered
But while I have traveled free
Yet my heart kept calling me
To the land of lochs and glens and silver seas.
Chorus
I have stood on the shores where the great Pacific roars
From ‘out yonder’ tae down under I have wandered
And there places I have walked
From baith Sydney tae New York
But gie me my lochs and glens and silver seas.
Chorus
From Stranraer to Kintyre, from Kilcreggan up tee Skye,
From Cape Ross to Invemess and Border Shieling
That the world o’ my home, and I’m longing now far off
Tae the land of lochs and glens and silver seas.
Chorus
The Lea Rig
When o’er the hill the eastern star
Tells bughtin’ time is near, my jo
And owsen frae the furrowed field
Return see dowf and weasy, 0
Down by the burn, where scented birks
Wi’ dew are hanging clear, my jo
I’il meet thee on the Lea rig,
My ain kind dearie 0
In mirkest glen, at midnight hour,
I’d rove and ne’er be eerie, 0,
If thro’ that glen I gaed to thee,
My am kind dearie, 0,
Although the night were ne’er sae wild,
An I were ne’er sae weary, 0,
I’d meet thee on the Lea rig,
My am kind dearie, 0
The hunter lo’es the morning sun,
To rouse the mountain deer, my jo,
At noon the fisher seeks the glen,
Along the burn to steer, my jo,
Gi’e me the hour o’ gloaming grey,
It mak’s my heart sae cheery, 0,
To meet thee on the Lea rig,
My ain kind dearie, 0
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
Morning Glory
Chorus:
One for the Morning Glory,
Two for the early dew,
Three for the man who will stand his round,
And four for the love of you, me girl,
Four for the love of you.
At the end of the day I like a little drink,
To raise up my voice and sing,
And an hour or two with a fine brown brew
And I’m ready for anything,
At the Cross Keys Inn there were sisters four,
The landlord’s daughters fair,
And every night when they put out the light
I would tiptoe up the stairs singing. . .
Chorus
Well I got the call from foreign shores
To go and fight the foe
And I thought no more of the sisters four,
But still I was sad to go
So I sailed aboard a ship,
The Morning Glory was her name,
And we’d all fall down when the rum went round,
Then we’d get up and start again, singing...
Chorus
Jamie Raeburn
My name is Jamie Raebom in Glasgow I was born
My place and habitation I’m forced to leave in scorn
From my place of habitation I now must gang awa’
Far frae the bonny hills and dales of Caledonia.
It was early in the morning just by the break of day
We were wakened by the turnkey who unto us did say
Arise ye hapless convicts arise ye one and a’
This is the day you are to stray frae Caledonia
We all arose in misery our hearts were filled with grief
Our friends all gathered round the coach could grant us no relief
Our parents, wives and sweethearts, their hearts were broke in twa
To see us leave the hills and dales of Caledonia.
Farewell my aged mother, I’m vexed for what I’ve done
I hope none will cast up to you the race that I have run
And I hope God will protect you while I am far awa’
Far frae the bonny hills and dales of Caledonia
Farewell my aged father, you were the best of men
Likewise my ain sweetheart, it’s Catherine is her name
No more we’ll walk by Clyde’s clear stream or by the Broomielaw
For I must leave the hills and dales of Caledonia
