Hearing a Scottish singer has always been a treat to me. The dialect and accent adds a color and flavor to a Scottish song that is often lost otherwise. Hearing Jean Redpath sing Rothsea Bay for the first time was almost sensual. Jim Reid doing The Wild Geese(Norland Wind) made me feel the heart and soul of the singer.

How hard is it to understand the lyric? I have no problems with accents on songs that are English to start with. I perform a lot of songs that have dialectics that I have to English up a bit for my audience. And it is difficult to pick the songs that can stand this kind of arranging.   This is only an effort to make the song understandable. Just because I know what Dinna Ken means doesn't mean old Mrs. Barfington does and she just paid $5.00 to hear me. Singing is an act of communication and if Mrs. B doesn't understand what I am singing, no matter how well or clearly I sing it, I have failed in my job.

I won't sing in an accent not my own except to burlesque a comical tune. I just isn't honest. This is an argument I have had with the others in my band for twenty years. I am only now beginning to win out.

D