Piper on the Hilltop - John Warner 1989 Lyrics from "Who was There"
John was moved by the unexpected sound of bagpipes being played near the Spence shops in Belconnen near Canberra. The moment was climaxed by a dramatic summer thunderstorm rising over the Brindabella Range, an outcrop of the Snowy Mountains. A 'pibroch' is a traditional bagpipe air serving as a call to battle or a lament .


It's a hot December evening
And there's herald of a change
In the mighty clouds that roll across
The Brindabella Range.

There's a piper on the hilltop
By the supermarket square,
And his pibroch falls like sunset clouds
Above the city air.

The chattering of kids at play,
The sullen roar of cars
The thunder of a jet plane's flight
Above the rising stars.

I sit beside my window
And I listen to the town
And an aching air, an old lament,
Like mist comes drifting down.

Then Spence gives way to Glencoe,
Bonny Charlie's at Dunbar,
And the 'Flowers of the Forest,'
They all are gone awa'

A breeze disturbs the silent leaves,
Rolling thunder brings the change
With the pibroch for Belconnen Town
By the Brindabella Range