IN SLEEPY SCOTLAND Words and music by Alistair Hulett (AMCOS)
In Sleepy Scotland The pubs a’ look like air raid shelters Haufway doon life’s helter skelter Weans in tally suits an’ bunnets (Italian suits and cloth caps) Stagger intae bars and come oot Shinin’ like electric saints in Spring In Sleepy Scotland Wha’s like us are damn few An’ they’re a’ deid or in a queue Wi’ their divvie cairds and Butlins badges (dividend cards) Hung aboot like starlings on a pylon Linin’ up tae test their wings
And the last of the Mohicans Tumbles oot o’ the Kiloran Bar And blaws away like sagebrush doon the empty London Road Fae god knows where tae god knows where
In Sleepy Scotland Bingo queens wi’ windmill arms Dance cheek tae cheek wi’ bold gendarmes Bussed in by Black Marias (Police wagons) While the Billy Boys and Feniens Droon the future in the bloodbath of the past In Sleepy Scotland The Dear Green Place stopped spinnin’ roon’ And festered like an open wound Beneath a rusty Fairfield cran’ the wrecking ball swung doon And wiped oot every dream that didnae vanish fast
And the last of the Mohicans Pished his breeks and said he didnae care Then blew away like sagebrush doon the empty London Road Fae god knows where tae god knows where
And the fat cat wi’ the brief case in the camel coat and trilby Said the way it’s noo’s the way it always was and always will be This is Sleepy Scotland, pal, if boredom disnae kill me We’ll keep Scotland sleepin’ on for years tae come
In Sleepy Scotland A giant rose and gied a roar Even the deaf could not ignore It echoed doon the corridors of power And maisters ran like rabbits Hidin’ from the hunt inside their holes In Sleepy Scotland The fury of the dispossessed Flowed like a sea of molten glass An’ a’ the years of hopelessness Turned overnight intae a sacred venom That would scorch their very souls
And the last of the Mohicans tumbled intae the Kiloran Bar Nursed a pint then blew away like sagebrush Doon the road fae god knows where Tae god knows where