HI.

I lost the message I just spent ages writing. Just as well, I forgot a verse of my father's own song!

However. My father Stewart Ross's copyright song 'Here's to Scottish Whisky', is the true title of 'Here's to Scottish Whiskey'. I have had to register the work with the subregistration as certain record companies have been misspelling the title and making a bit of a hash of it. 'Whiskey' with an E refers to 'Irish Whiskey'.

It was as i said, written for a ceilidh programme with a sing-a-long. The BBC didn't use it, so my father had the song recorded by the Tartan Lads. The orchestration and arrangement turned out so well that it was made the title track of an EMI LP, and then issued on compilations.   My father didn't like whisky - and was virtually teetotal!   The song is simple in its rhymes - and is very heather, haggis and shortbread, and not politically correct in its view of drink. However, it served the purpose at the time.

My father died in September 1993. Shortly after he died, the Alexander Brothers recorded the song on Video and CD for Scotdisc. They did not have the full lyrics and just repeated the first verse and chorus wit a trad. bit in the middle medley style - so it's a bit of a patch job. My father had just recently died and it was distressing to myself, mother and family that an error was made in crediting the work on the sleeve as trad.   This was legally corrected to reflect that the song is a full copyright work with words and music by Stewart Ross - so now the recording is properly credited.

It is unfortunate that my father died before seeing the song become used on many more compilations as a Scottish heather and haggis classic, on albums with the greatest names of Scottish music.   So the likes of 'Scottish Favourites', 'I Love Scotland', 'The Original Celtic boxed Set' etc. features this track.

A budget record company are also circulating the same 1974 recording by the Tartan Lads, but this is lesser quality, dubbed rom disc - instead of using EMI's stereo master. I keep telling this company that they are misspelling the song's title - but they have not bothered altering the error!


Here's To Scottish Whisky
(C) 1974 Stewart Ross

Chorus
Here's to Scottish whisky, whisky is the thing.
It makes you feel so frisky, it makes you laugh and sing.
So let's all have a ceilidh and have a lot of fun.
Let's drink to good old whisky, there's a dram for everyone.


Now whisky is the devil, so some people say.
But that's a lot of nonsense, for we're all here today.
No evil thoughts amongst us, just out to have some play.
So drink your good old whisky and we'll chase our cares away.

Chorus
Here's to Scottish whisky, whisky is the thing.
It makes you feel so frisky, it makes you laugh and sing.
So let's all have a ceilidh and have a lot of fun.
Let's drink to good old whisky, there's a dram for everyone.

Wherever Scotsmen gather, no matter where they roam.
They'll always get together and sing the songs of home.
"The mountains, glens and valleys. The rivers flowing free", and always while the're singing, there's a dram or two or three.

Chorus.

Here's to Scottish whisky, whisky is the thing.
It makes you feel so frisky, it makes you laugh and sing.
So let's all have a ceilidh, and have a lot fun.
Let's drink to good old whisky there's a dram for everyone.

Marching o'er the heather or strolling through the glen,
You'll always here the tourists say 'I'll be back again',
but it isn't just the scenery, or the days of 'Alud Lang Syne'
It's whisky good old whisky that makes the land so fine.

Chorus.

Here's to Scottish whisky, whisky is the thing.
It makes you feel so frisky, it makes you laugh and sing.
So let's all have a ceilidh and have lot of fun.
Let's drink to good old whisky there's a dram for everyone.
Let's drink to good old whiksy there's a dram for everyone.