The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #3098   Message #14937
Posted By: Tim Jaques tjaques@netcom.ca
18-Oct-97 - 04:54 PM
Thread Name: Lyr Req: Of A' the Airts the Wind Can Blaw (Burns)
Subject: RE: O' A' the Airts the Wind Can Blaw
Scarborough Settler's Lament is in there indeed, although the lyrics are screwed up. ("banished Swill" ?? "Pentland's craggy comb"??)

The "air" that Hamish Moore's pianist Hilda Chaisson plays as O' A' the Airts the Wind Can Blaw is the same tune to which Scarborough Settler's Lament is sung. I listened to them both last night. (My, what a voice Stan had) The Burns lyrics seem to fit with the tune, now that I've tried it, although I have yet to hear a recorded version of the Burns lyrics.

I have since learned that the Burns song is usually called I Love My Jean, and that the "air" was originally a strathspey.