Click here for a recording of the song by the Big Orkney Song Project.

The Orkney Singers page gives this information about the song:

The New Year Song

The Sanday New Year Song recording found by BOSP was sung by James Fotheringham, Templeha, Sanday, and it was recorded by Ernest Marwick a short time before Mr Fotheringham died in 1969 (D31/TR/133). James also sang a version of the Greenland Whale Fisheries, different to those found in South Ronaldsay and Stromness.

The New Year Song is the oldest preserved song in Orkney. Other versions of the song have been collected in Yorkshire, Aberdeenshire, Shetland and Fair Isle. Although the song was not native to Orkney, it became an integral part of community life in the islands, in no small part due to its association with New Year Customs, and over the years distinctive renderings developed in the various island communities. Several of these versions were recorded in the twentieth century, in a variety of media, and are preserved in the Orkney Library and Archive. We have versions from Rousay (late 1800s), Sanday (c.1836 and 1967), North Ronaldsay (1967), Stromness (1890), Burray (early 1980s), Long Hope (1893) and Firth (late 1800s).

The song accompanies a New Year's custom that took place widely throughout Orkney until the last century. The song was traditionally sung on Old New Year's Eve, at the principal houses of the districts by a group of young men. The group were given refreshments at each house and one of the band, known as the "Carrying Horse" carried a caisie (creel) on his back into which goods were placed.

The song comprises a blessing (the first verse and the verses blessing various animals) and a demand for gifts. In most versions there is reference made to "St Mary" (rather than Queen Mary) and "Our Lady" which indicate a pre-reformation origin to the song. The mention of King Henry in various versions has been taken along with the reference to "the fair Lady Rosamond" to indicate a twelfth century origin.

Ernest Marwick suggested that "Saint" was replaced with "Queen" in the refrain to "calm uneasy Presbyterian ministers with uneasy consciences" (Orkney Archive Reference D31/1/2/5).