Actually, I sort of like the performance. I am just an American and no expert on things Scottish, of course, but McColl sings "The Old Man's Mare's Dead" in exactly the same style and the same accent, and it isn't funny, it's just a good song.

McColl was sure enough a great singer. He was also the most opinionated of men, and if he couldn't stand criticism he would surely have had the sense not to dish it out. I fail to see why people get so passionately indignant whenever he is criticized.