I used to regularly perform a song called "MacPherson's Lament" or "MacPherson's Last Farewell." I had an acquaintance who was born near Edinburgh. He insisted I pronounce it so that the middle syllable was somewhere between ER and AIR. By the way, I saw no reference to the song in any of the comments above.

"Fareweell ye dungeons, dark and strong,
Fareweell, farewell to thee;
MacPherson's time will no' be long,
Below the gallows tree.

Sae rantin'ly, sae wantonly, sae dauntin'ly gaed he,
He played a tune and he danced a'roond,
Below the gallows tree."

That's from a very foggy memory, with a stab at the phonetic, but I did like the piece. Anyone else?