Jack Beck is spot on. The romantic view of rural life, with the attendant antiquarians taking notes and writing down the bothy ballads etc, occurred as most Scots were going down the mill at the age of 12. The simple life of the crofter (more likely a migrant labourer as in [i]The Lothian Hairst[/i]) was idealised, in the most extreme form by Sir Harry Lauder. All the lads working Clydeside and in the mills in the towns could get a bit misty eyed thinking about the life their parents never had while listening to this bilge. Actually, they didn't do that at all. Lauder and his ilk were never popular among the urban labouring class. The tunes played better to a middle class audience removed from the doings of the rural peasantry and and urban labourers.

It is still true today. My family goes down the local nightly, where they drink Coors, smoke Marlboros, and watch the footy, while American country and western is playing in the background. They would start breaking things if 'Johnny Sangster' or 'The Band o' Shearers' was played.