You're probably right Malcolm. I've no idea if the person who suggested it to me (and I can't even remember who it was or where) knew what they were talking about. The feel and rhythm of the collected 'A' part (which is used three times in the Boat song - the B part was added by McLeod, yes?) has the same feel as, for one, 'Waulkin' o' The Fauld' (sorry that's where i got the spelling from - again someone told me it was the correct way - but they were probably just winding me up too)! I wonder if there was a different B part too, originally, because the A part is plainly just that.

Also I've tried many times actually to row to the Skye song, but it's too quick, and you get out of sequence on the down-beats - they keep falling on a different part of the stroke even if you're really racing, which has always puzzled me. It is however just right for squeeze-folding urine out of a bolt of cloth though, so when someone told me it really was I was included to keep that option open.

Am I right in thinking that McLeod heard the tune from a boatman who was actually rowing? If so is it possible that he just liked the tune and didn't mind the misfit? That would be very different to a song that was made during and for the activity.

But I bow to your greater knowledge.