MacPherson's Rant @ Murder Ballad Monday

Subject: MacPherson's Rant @ Murder Ballad Monday
From: GUEST
Date: 04 Nov 12 - 05:16 PM

Two installments this past week at Murder Ballad Monday on "MacPherson's Rant":

MacPherson's Rant: A Western from the Auld Country, Part One -- "He played a tune and danced it 'roon. Below the gallows tree..." Return with us to Scotland this week, as Tom provides us with a musical tale of outlawry, MacPherson's Rant, performed in this first installment by the Corries. More to come, so guard your cattle...

MacPherson's Rant: A Western from the Auld Country, Part Two -- Honor, betrayal, and outright treachery; would you expect anything less? In this week's second installment, Tom, with the able and energetic assistance of the Old Blind Dogs, finds a core of life enduring in this musical valediction from our executed outlaw hero. Rant on, MacPherson. Rant on.

Subject: RE: MacPherson's Rant @ Murder Ballad Monday
From: Don Firth
Date: 05 Nov 12 - 01:53 PM

Great song! I've been singing that since the late 1950s. I learned it from a record entitled "Songs from a Village Garret," recorded by Raphael Boguslav. He titled it "MacPherson's Fareweel."

The tune is essentially the same and most of the words, but some are a bit different from the Corries' version. Also, I have a considerably more elaborate guitar accompaniment (shooting for a "dirge" effect), and I do it as a ballad rather than a "clap-along."

Sound track from the "Ballads and Books" series on Seattle's first educational television channel. 1959. Buzz Anderson introduces the program, then me. My intro is from something I encountered as I was researching the song. I couldn't find much on MacPherson, but what my digging turned up related it to a similar incident.

CLICKY. Middle column, second box down.

(From the Bob Nelson Archive at the University of Washington Library)

Don Firth

Subject: RE: MacPherson's Rant @ Murder Ballad Monday
From: GUEST,mayomick
Date: 05 Nov 12 - 02:22 PM

A great song but not really a murder ballad , is it?

Subject: RE: MacPherson's Rant @ Murder Ballad Monday
From: Don Firth
Date: 05 Nov 12 - 02:44 PM

Well, not in the usual sense. But considering that

Reprieve was comin' o'r the Brig o' Banff
To set MacPherson free,
But they put the clock a quarter o'fore,
And hanged him to a tree.

it looks fairly clearly as if they murdered him.

Don Firth

Subject: RE: MacPherson's Rant @ Murder Ballad Monday
From: GUEST,Blandiver
Date: 05 Nov 12 - 03:07 PM

Here it is sung by the great Davie Stewart:

http://research.culturalequity.org/rc-b2/get-audio-detailed-recording.do?recordingId=12484

Subject: RE: MacPherson's Rant @ Murder Ballad Monday
From: Don Firth
Date: 05 Nov 12 - 03:15 PM

Couldn't get the song to play......

Don Firth

Subject: RE: MacPherson's Rant @ Murder Ballad Monday
From: GUEST,Blandiver
Date: 05 Nov 12 - 03:21 PM

Playing okay on my crappy old laptop, Don - just press the arrow...

Subject: RE: MacPherson's Rant @ Murder Ballad Monday
From: Don Firth
Date: 05 Nov 12 - 03:28 PM

Still couldn't get it. But I got Davie Stewart doing it on YouTube.

Don Firth

Subject: RE: MacPherson's Rant @ Murder Ballad Monday
From: GUEST,Blandiver
Date: 05 Nov 12 - 03:43 PM

It's the pure drop, for sure!