Lyr Correction: Caledonia (Dougie MacLean)

Subject: RE: Correction: Caledonia by Dougie MacLean
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 11 Feb 11 - 07:51 PM

BUT AS I SAID ABOVE: if you care to take the time to watch Dougie himself sing it on the numerous Youtubes of his live performances, you will see that SOMETIMES he sings SOMETIMES, and SOMETIMES he doesn't!!!!! I don't hink it's crucial whether you have SOMETIMES in or not: both versions would seem to me to be equally correct.
The bit that ISN'T correct as John Hill posted here as long ago as 1999 is the coat-tails, and definitely needs changing.

Subject: RE: Correction: Caledonia by Dougie MacLean
From: Jeremiah McCaw
Date: 12 Feb 11 - 11:06 AM

"But if I should become a stranger you know that it would make me more than sad"

In performance that line scans better if you drop the word 'you' -
"But if I should become a stranger, know that it would make me more than sad"

That's the way I first heard the song, sung by Bill Crawford and Ed Vandendool under the name "Cravan Spirit" and still one of the sweetest renditions I've heard.

Bill & Ed used to operate the Caledonia Folk Club - not that Caledonia - this one is a small town on the Grand River in southern Ontario. It's also the first place I ever summoned up sufficient nerve to perform on stage. That's the Caledonia in my mind when I do the song. I tag it with "Caledonia, you're everything that I have".

Subject: RE: Correction: Caledonia by Dougie MacLean
From: Murray MacLeod
Date: 12 Feb 11 - 05:14 PM

How does it scan any better if you drop the word "you" ?

I have sung this a million times and never had any problem with that line. I would actually find it quite awkward to drop the "you".

Listen to Dougie singing it, that,s the way it goes .

Subject: RE: Correction: Caledonia by Dougie MacLean
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 12 Feb 11 - 07:49 PM

That;s what I keep telling 'em Murray!

Subject: RE: Correction: Caledonia by Dougie MacLean
From: Taconicus
Date: 13 Feb 11 - 11:01 AM

Yes, you reach the right eyes here, but we may not get to every thread every time, so it is safer to e-mail them to Dick at [e-mail]. New editions come out twice a year, so you won't see instant corrections.

I've been using the site for four years and that's the first time I ever saw that information. Perhaps it should be posted somewhere more prominent.

Subject: RE: Correction: Caledonia by Dougie MacLean
From: Jeremiah McCaw
Date: 13 Feb 11 - 02:01 PM

Murray, I think I can dig up an mp3 of the rendition I'm referring to. Send me your regular email address to and I'll try to send it.

Subject: RE: Correction: Caledonia by Dougie MacLean
From: Mysha
Date: 17 Mar 11 - 06:05 PM

Ah,

So, no dream stealers in the house?

Hm, "coattails flying". Sounds like a line a a Les Barker version might have.

                                                                  Mysha

Subject: RE: Correction: Caledonia by Dougie MacLean
From: breezy
Date: 18 Mar 11 - 06:00 AM

Mysha

re: 'stolen dreams', implies that one has pinched ideas from someone else

The line should possibly read thus , note the placing of commas

I have tried, and kept on trying.
{I have }Stolen dreams, yes, there's no denying.

Lovely song, waiting to hear it sung at Scotland's rugby internationals.

Subject: RE: Correction: Caledonia by Dougie MacLean
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 20 Mar 11 - 07:37 PM

It already is, Breezy, and has been for years! (Where've you been?)The guys in the "Famous Grouse" tent (great band called Kilter) do it regularly in the pre-match warm-ups and the Frankie Miller version was played inside the stadium on Saturday as our (at last) victorious team departed the pitch to the changing rooms.

Subject: RE: Lyr Correction: Caledonia (Dougie MacLean)
From: meself
Date: 28 Aug 11 - 10:33 AM

To my understanding, the lines were originally: "Kissed the ladies, left them crying;/Stolen dreams, yes, there's no denying" - which I take to mean that the "stolen dreams" had to do with all those poor heart-broken ladies who (sniff) woke up and found him gone, along with their dreams (of living with him happily after - now, of course, they have no dreams, they have no hope, they live their lives trapped in the memory of that one night of bliss after a few too many pints at the folk club). I don't wonder that at some point he might have decided to sing a new version ....

Subject: RE: Lyr Correction: Caledonia (Dougie MacLean)
From: RunrigFan
Date: 24 Oct 11 - 09:50 PM

CALEDONIA
(Dougie MacLean)

As written in Plant life yearss

I don't know if you can see
The changes that have come over me,
In these last few day I've been afraid
That I might drift away:
So I've been telling old stories, singing songs,
That make me think about where I came from,
And that's the reason why I seem
So far away today.

CHORUS
Oh, but let me tell you that I love you,
That I think about you all the time,
Caledonia, you're calling me
And now I'm going home.
If I should become a stranger,
You know that it would make me more than sad,
Caledonia's been everything I've ever had.

Now I have moved and I've kept on moving,
Proved the points that I needed proving,
Lost the friends that I needed losing,
Found others on the way,
I have kissed the ladies and left them crying,
Stolen dreams, yes there's no denying,
I have travelled hard with conscience flying
Somewhere with the wind

CHORUS

Now I'm sitting here before the fire,
The empty room, the forest choir,
The flames that couldn't get any higher,
They've withered now, they've gone.
But I'm steady thinking my way is clear,
And I know what I will do tomorrow,
When the hands are shaking and the kisses flow
And I will disappear.
CHORUS

Craigie Dhu Version

I don't know if you can seet the changes that have come over me
In these last few days I've been afraid that I might drift away
I've been telling old stories, singing songs that make me think about where I came from,
And that's the reason why I seem so far away today.

CHORUS
Let me tell you that I love you and I think about you all the time,
Caledonia, you're calling me and now I'm going home.
For if I should become a stranger,
You know that it would make me more than sad,
Caledonia's been everything I've ever had.

Now I have moved and I've kept on moving,
Proved the points that I needed proving,
Lost the friends that I needed losing,
Found others on the way,
I have kissed the ladies and left them crying,
Stolen dreams, yes there's no denying,
I have travelled hard with conscience flying
Somewhere with the wind

CHORUS

Now I'm sitting here before the fire,
The empty room, the forest choir,
The flames that couldn't get any higher,
But They've withered now, they've gone.
But I'm steady thinking my way is clear,
And I know what I will do tomorrow,
When the hands are shaking and the kisses flow
And I will disappear.
CHORUS

Subject: RE: Lyr Correction: Caledonia (Dougie MacLean)
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 27 Oct 11 - 07:11 PM

So we all seem to be agreed that it's "conscience" and not "coattails", so can we PLEASE change just that one word? (12 years on!)

Subject: RE: Lyr Correction: Caledonia (Dougie MacLean)
From: GUEST,Maddie
Date: 29 Nov 11 - 01:50 PM

Any luck on getting the midi for this song?

Subject: RE: Lyr Correction: Caledonia (Dougie MacLean)
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 29 Nov 11 - 08:08 PM

Suggest you just buy the record, Maddie!

Well it's 30th November here, St Andrew's Day, tho' maybe a few hours to go yet across the pond.
So ........please, just for a really special favour for St Andrew's Day........................................ can we have - "Coat-tails" out, "conscience" in?
Joe, Susan, anybody...........?
Ok I know I'm being boring but it's just so WRONG! (12 years and 3 and a half months and counting!)

Subject: RE: Lyr Correction: Caledonia (Dougie MacLean)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 30 Aug 12 - 01:04 AM

I've done what I can, Tattie. It's in the hands of fate now. It's now 13 years and about two weeks. Please note that I posted and submitted corrected lyrics in 2003 - so it's not my fault, is it?

-Joe-

Subject: RE: Lyr Correction: Caledonia (Dougie MacLean)
From: Mysha
Date: 30 Aug 12 - 05:55 AM

Hi,

I'm a bit slow, sometimes, but in this thread that's no problem, it seems. Still, I knew the lyrics like this:

I have kissed the ladies and left them crying,
Stolen dreams, yes there's no denying,
I have travelled hard, sometimes with conscience flying
Somewhere with the wind

Switching to "trying" seems to have made his conscience take permanent flight. Then again, I don't know whether the two changes were simultaneous. The version RunrigFan adds has the one difference but not the other.

Bye,
                                                                Mysha

Subject: RE: Lyr Correction: Caledonia (Dougie MacLean)
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 04 Sep 12 - 02:48 PM

Hi Joe, if you can't change it the DT, who can? ASs you say, you posted lyrics ion 31st Jan 2011.

As has been said before, over the years, Dougie himself has changed from the "kissed the ladies" version to the "I have tried" version.

To me the main issue is the word "coat-tails" which is plainly wrong!

I heard Dougie himself sing it at Innerleithen Music Festival only a couple of weeks ago, and he did NOT sing that "sometimes" word that seems to be such a big issue with some folk including yourself. It makes little difference to the meaning of the song if "sometimes" is in or out, whereas using "coat-tails" instead of "conscience" makes a radical and ludicrous change.

Here's a fairly recent version - no "sometimes"!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wP8A9rtg0iI
You'll note it comes from Butterstone Studios, i.e. Dougie's own studio!

Subject: RE: Lyr Correction: Caledonia (Dougie MacLean)
From: Nick
Date: 04 Sep 12 - 04:42 PM

Last time I saw him in Arran in the loo he did have quite a longish coat on.

The plot thins.

Subject: RE: Lyr Correction: Caledonia (Dougie MacLean)
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 04 Sep 12 - 05:17 PM

I still prefer coattails - which makes every bit as much sense, and fits well with "Now I have moved and I've kept on moving".

Often mondegreens make for better songs.

Subject: RE: Lyr Correction: Caledonia (Dougie MacLean)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 05 Sep 12 - 02:38 AM

Hi, Tattie -

Dick Greenhaus is the editor/curator of the Digital Tradition. Susan of DT works with him.

-Joe-

Subject: RE: Lyr Correction: Caledonia (Dougie MacLean)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 13 Dec 12 - 04:38 PM

Well, last Sunday I sat next to a very accomplished Scottish singer at a song circle, and he sang "Caledonia" "with coattails flying." He was singing from handwritten notes that looked very old. If he got his lyrics from the Digital Tradition, one would think he would have printed the lyrics instead of writing them by hand.
So, I wonder how far this "coattails" heresy has spread.

I listened to the Dougie MacLean recording just now, and it's definitely "with conscience flying."

And no, Tattie, the lyrics have not been changed in the Digital Tradition yet....

-Joe-

Subject: RE: Lyr Correction: Caledonia (Dougie MacLean)
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 13 Dec 12 - 07:43 PM

Thanks Joe, Maybe because I haven't yet contacted either Dick or Susan. I meant to, but was on first day of a Festival I was organising when you posted on 5th September. So I'll do it - soon!

Subject: RE: Lyr Correction: Caledonia (Dougie MacLean)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 13 Dec 12 - 09:59 PM

It has been reported to Dick and Susan and recorded by them, Tattie. It's just that a new edition of the Digital Tradition hasn't come out recently.
-Joe-

Subject: RE: Lyr Correction: Caledonia (Dougie MacLean)
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 14 Dec 12 - 06:45 AM

Thanks Joe, I was just about to email Dick, so no need now!

Subject: Lyr Add: CALEDONIA (Dougie MacLean)
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 20 Jun 14 - 09:05 AM

Have had the pleasure of seeing Dougie in concert last weekend: a really good night. he sang Caledonia as his encore "or risk being lynched"!
He now has a re-vamped website with lyrics of a lot of his songs on it.
So here is his (definitive) version of how he sings it now (the "kissed the ladies" line is out! see note at the bottom, also copied from the web page)


Music and Lyrics by Dougie MacLean
Published by Limetree Arts and Music (MCPS and PRS UK)

I don't know if you can see the changes that have come over me
In these last few days I've been afraid that I might drift away
So I've been telling old stories, singing songs, that make me think about where I come from
That's the reason why I seem so far away today

CHORUS
Let me tell you that I love you and I think about you all the time
Caledonia you're calling me and now I'm going home
But if I should become a stranger you know that it would make me more than sad
Caledonia's been everything I've ever had

I have moved and I've kept on moving, proved the points that I needed proving
Lost the friends that I needed losing, found others on the way
I have tried and I've kept on trying, stolen dreams, yes there's no denying*
I have traveled hard sometimes with conscience flying somewhere in the wind

CHORUS

Now I'm sitting here before the fire, the empty room the forest choir
The flames that couldn't get any higher they've withered now they've gone
But I'm steady thinking, my way is clear and I know what I will do tomorrow
When the hands have shaken and the kisses flow then I will disappear

CHORUS

*Earlier lyric for this line was "I have kissed the ladies and left them crying"...Dougie changed the lyric for Frankie Miller when he released Caledonia as a single and, feeling comfortable with the new lyric himself, carried on singing the new version which he prefers!

Subject: RE: Lyr Correction: Caledonia (Dougie MacLean)
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 20 Jun 14 - 09:09 AM

Oops, I see that Joe put this up in 2011! "Read the thread, Trish!"
"Hands have shaken"?

Subject: RE: Lyr Correction: Caledonia (Dougie MacLean)
From: meself
Date: 20 Jun 14 - 11:37 AM

'"Hands have shaken"?'

Before the sun was over the yardarm ....

Subject: RE: Lyr Correction: Caledonia (Dougie MacLean)
From: GUEST,Dave Lewis
Date: 06 Nov 14 - 06:02 PM

Pretty nice version here...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xT8n_125tTA

Subject: RE: Lyr Correction: Caledonia (Dougie MacLean)
From: RunrigFan
Date: 14 Feb 21 - 09:54 PM

I don't know if you can see
The changes that have come over me,
In these last few day I've been afraid
That I might drift away:
So I've been telling old stories, singing songs,
That make me think about where I came from,
And that's the reason why I seem
So far away today.

CHORUS
Oh, but let me tell you that I love you,
That I think about you all the time,
Caledonia, you're calling me
And now I'm going home.
If I should become a stranger,
You know that it would make me more than sad,
Caledonia's been everything I've ever had.

Now I have moved and I've kept on moving,
I proved the points that I needed proving,
Lost the friends that I needed losing,
Found others on the way,
I have kissed the lady, I kept on trying
Stolen dreams, yes there's no denying,
I have travelled hard with conscience flying
Somewhere with the wind

CHORUS

Now I'm sitting here before the fire,
The empty room, the forest choir,
The flames that couldn't get any higher,
They've withered now, they've gone.
But I'm steady thinking my way is clear,
And I know what I will do tomorrow,
When the hands are shaking and the kisses flow
And I will disappear.

youtube.com/watch?v=DEB4HCWcwbw