I would be interested to hear how other singers (non-Scots) approach a song like Twa Corbies. How do you deal with phrases like "bonnie blue e'en" and "theek oor nest"?

I agree with Bill and Leenia to a large extent. My experience has been that I sing Scottish songs better when I'm not trying to sound "Scottish". I'm actually quite a good imitator, but for some reason my voice tends to tense up.

Some Scots songs lend themselves very well to using standard English words. "Bonnie Susie Cleland" is a good example. You can sing it throughout without using Scottish dialect words and not lose any of the power of the song.

Twa Corbies is different though. This is as close to perfect as a folk song can get I think, and anglicizing it would spoil it. (There's a good English variant called the Two Crows, but that's quite a different song).

I haven't really begun to work on Twa Corbies yet, but I think I will. It's too good a song to pass up. I sing in French and German sometimes, so it should be possible.

Edmund