Couple of points - I got told off by a piper once for singing "fey", he insisted that the word was "fu" meaning drunk. Not what Henederson wrote but an example of the folk process in action and at least it makes sense.

Secondly, there is film of Henderson describing how the song was written (BBC or C4 documentary many years ago). He was on the dockside at Salerno where the Scots were embarking and the Pipes broke into Farewell to the Creeks and as he said "The words came unbidden".

It is important to remember that the troops embarking for the invasion of Italy were the 8th Army. They had fought through North Africa, invaded Sicily and after a brief respite were about to invade again. These were battle hardened but weary troops who almost uniquely had been fighting throughout the war. They also knew the odds on survival.

Steve