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Subject: Lyr Req: MacPherson's Lament or Rant From: GUEST,mg Date: 01 Feb 26 - 05:25 PM I looked up in lyrics and go a server error. Does anyone know the most accurate lyrics to MacPherson's Lament or Rant. Or are there two different songs? I have read that Burns wrote some additional verses. And what are your favorite vigorous versions on youtube?
I keep hoping Max will take that faulty search engine down. It has never worked well, and it hasn't worked at all for years....but we have many other search engines. The one I prefer is the FILTER, which is right at the top of the list of threads. Put a distinctive word or part of a work in the filter box and set the age back to ALL, and you'll get great results. Put phers in the Filter box and see what you get. Macph works pretty well, too. -Joe Offer- |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: MacPherson's Lament or Rant From: Helen Date: 01 Feb 26 - 05:48 PM Hi mg, Before our little music session group split up last year, after 40 years plus of playing together, MacPherson's Lament was on our list. We didn't have the lyrics, just the tune but this page has lyrics: MacPherson's Lament I have to confess, I don't think I have ever heard a recording of it so I can't vouch for the correctness of the lyrics on that page. I also don't know if the Rant is the same as the Lament. On the same page of our music session book was a tune called Coleman's March. We played Coleman's and then MacPherson's. Two good tunes. |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: MacPherson's Lament or Rant From: Robert B. Waltz Date: 01 Feb 26 - 06:51 PM There are two versions in the Digital Tradition. MACPHERSON'S FAREWELL is the Burns version. MCPHERSON'S LAMENT is apparently from Jeannie Robertson There is also a thread, "Origins: The story behind MacPherson's Farewell." Most people, these days, know the Burns version, but the tune is basically the same. Very little about the song can be verified except that: 1. James MacPherson was a freebooter 2. He really did play violin 3. He was hanged in 1700 |
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Subject: Origins: MacPherson's Lament or Rant or Farewell From: Joe Offer Date: 01 Feb 26 - 07:49 PM I thought I'd change this into an Origins thread because I've always wondered what the difference was between MacPherson's Lament and Rant and Farewell. Here is the Traditional Ballad Index entry on "Lament," which is mostly the same as "Farewell": MacPherson's LamentDESCRIPTION: MacPherson tells how a woman betrayed him to the Laird o' Grant. He challenges all to a duel in defense of his honor. He breaks his fiddle, "the only friend I hae," rather than see it in bad hands. A rider is coming to reprieve him, so he is hanged earlyAUTHOR: unknown / rewritten by Robert Burns EARLIEST DATE: 1803 (_Scots Musical Museum_ #114); supposedly first appeared by 1710 (ee NOTES) KEYWORDS: execution betrayal reprieve fiddle outlaw HISTORICAL REFERENCES: Nov 16, 1700 - Execution of James MacPherson at Banff FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber)) REFERENCES (16 citations): Whitelaw-BookOfScottishSong, pp. 346-347, "Macpherson's Farewell" (1 text) Greig/Duncan3 697, "MacPherson's Rant" (6 texts, 6 tunes) Porter/Gower-Jeannie-Robertson-EmergentSingerTransformativeVoice #15, pp. 134-135, "MacPherson's Farewell" (1 text, 1 tune) Kennedy-FolksongsOfBritainAndIreland 348, "MacPherson's Lament" (1 text, 1 tune) Ord-BothySongsAndBallads, pp. 443, "M'Pherson's Farewell" (1 text) MacColl/Seeger-TravellersSongsFromEnglandAndScotland 88, "Macpherson's Farewell" (1 text, 1 tune) MacColl-PersonalChoice, pp. 16-17, "MacPherson's Farewell" (1 text, 1 tune) Flanders-AncientBalladsTraditionallySungInNewEngland3, pp. 163-169, "Mary Hamilton" (2 texts plus a fragment, with the "C" fragment containing parts of "MacPherson's Lament"; 3 tunes; the tune for the "MacPherson" portion is not given) Silber/Silber-FolksingersWordbook, p. 205, "MacPherson's Farewell" (1 text) Ford-SongHistories, pp. 219-226, "MacPherson's Farewell" (4 texts, one being the Burns "MacPherson's Lament" and three being ancestral or related pieces, probably forms of "MacPherson's Rant") Sedley/Carthy-WhoKilledCockRobin, pp. 259-260, "MacPherson's Farewell" (1 text, 1 tune) DT, MACPHER* MACPHER2* MCPHERST ADDITIONAL: James Kinsley, editor, Burns: Complete Poems and Songs (shorter edition, Oxford, 1969) #196,, pp. 306-307, "McPherson's Farewell" (1 text, 1 tune, from 1788) Robert Chambers, The Scottish Songs (Edinburgh, 1829), Vol I, pp. 83-85, "MacPherson's Farewell" James Johnson, Editor, _The Scots Musical Museum_ [1853 edition], volume II, #114, p. 117 "McPherson's Farewell" (1 text, 1 tune) Kenneth Norman MacDonald, "The Gesto Collection of Highland Music," 1895 (reprinted 1997 by Llanerch Publishers), p. 107, "MacPherson's Lament" (1 tune, presumably this) ST K348 (Full) Roud #2160 RECORDINGS: Jimmy MacBeath, "MacPherson's Lament" (on Lomax43, LomaxCD1743) Davie Stewart, "MacPherson's Rant" (on Voice08) CROSS-REFERENCES: cf. "MacPherson's Rant" (subject) ALTERNATE TITLES: MacPherson NOTES [555 words]: Maurice Lindsay, The Burns Encyclopedia, 1959, 1970; third edition, revised and enlarged, St. Martin's Press, 1980, p. 267, James MacPherson was "A freebooter and the illegitimate son of a member of the Invereshie MacPhersons by a gipsy mother. He had great strength and was also an excellent violinist. The counties of Aberdeen, Banff, and Moray went in fear of him and his gipsy followers, until he was seized by Duff of Braco and tried before the sheriff at Banff." He was convicted and sentenced to death. Legends about MacPherson's death are many. The basic one has it that he played this tune before his death and offered the fiddle to anyone who could play it back for him. None could, so he broke the fiddle rather than leave it in incompetent hands. The (ruins of) the instrument are now said to be in the MacPherson clan museum in Inverness-shire. Very little of this, except for the bare fact that James MacPherson was executed in 1700, seems to have been verified. That MacPherson was a freebooter seems almost certain -- but only spite could have hung him for his deeds; most of Scotland was the same way! The earliest reported version of this piece seems to have been Burns's, but (given the variations), it seems certain that several traditional forms are older. Lindsay, p. 268, thinks that the song we've indexed as "MacPherson's Rant" is MacPherson's own and that this is Burns's rewrite. The tune is the same. - RBW Chambers: "The old ballad, for which Burns substituted the above beautiful verses, is given in continuation, from Herd's Collection of Scottish Songs [1776]." If there's an argument to be made for lumping "MacPherson's Lament" and "MacPherson's Rant" it might be Greig/Duncan3 697A and 697B, which mix verses of both. I think splitting them is the way to go. Whitelaw-BookOfScottishSong is Burns's "Farewell, ye dungeons dark and strong" which Dick has from Scots Musical Museum, 1788, No. 114 (James C Dick, The Songs of Robert Burns (London: Henry Frowde, 1903 ("Digitized by Microsoft")), #311 pp. 292-293). - BS [Regarding the Earliest Date: Porter/Gower-Jeannie-Robertson-EmergentSingerTransformativeVoice mention] a "first appearance in the Margaret Sinkler MS (1710, "McFarsances testment," sic)]. Also they note that a "broadside text composed in 1705 (McPherson's Rant; or the Last Words of James McPherson, Murderer, To Its Own Tune) found its way in part into Herd's Collection of 1776, but was published in full only by Maidment 1859...." since MacPherson was executed in 1700, for my money I'd go for the 1705. They say Rabbie Burns' reworking appeared in 1788. But your mileage might vary :-). - DGE Incidentally, this trick of hanging someone before a reprieve arrived did not originate with MacPherson. Ronald Hutton, Charles II: King of England, Scotland, and Ireland, Clarendon Press/Oxford University Press, 1989, pp. 210-211, tells of a minor rebellion against Charles II in the north of England in the early 1660s: "Twenty-six men were condemned to death and all but two were executed, most being politically unimportant as Charles offered a pardon to leaders who turned King's Evidence. The gentry of Westmorland succeeded in delaying his messenger carrying a reprieve for the agitator of the local rebels, just long enough to hang the man along with his dupes" - RBW Last updated in version 6.7 File: K348 And MacPherson's Rant: MacPherson's RantDESCRIPTION: "I've spent my time in rioting, Debauch'd my health and strength... But now, alas! at length, I'm brought to punishment direct." MacPherson laments that he is to be hanged, blames the Laird of Grant and Peter Brown, and tells people to live wellAUTHOR: unknown EARLIEST DATE: 1829 (Chambers) KEYWORDS: punishment execution betrayal outlaw HISTORICAL REFERENCES: Nov 16, 1700 - Execution of James MacPherson FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland) REFERENCES (4 citations): Ord-BothySongsAndBallads, pp. 444-445, "M'Pherson's Farewell" (1 text) Ford-SongHistories, pp. 219-226, "MacPherson's Farewell" (4 texts, one being the Burns "MacPherson's Lament" and three being ancestral or related pieces, probably forms of "MacPherson's Rant") Olson-BroadsideBalladIndex, ZN1339, "I spent my time in rioting, debauch'd my health and stength" (?) ADDITIONAL: Robert Chambers, The Scottish Songs (Edinburgh, 1829), Vol I, pp. 85-87, "MacPherson's Rant" Roud #2160 CROSS-REFERENCES: cf. "MacPherson's Lament" (subject) NOTES [215 words]: Often treated (e.g. by Roud) as a variant of the now-better-known "MacPherson's Lament," the two have so little in common that it seems certain that the two are separate, though they use the same tune. There is, at the very least, a great deal of editing (by Burns?) separating the two. Maurice Lindsay, The Burns Encyclopedia, 1959, 1970; third edition, revised and enlarged, St. Martin's Press, 1980, p. 267, James MacPherson was "A freebooter and the illegitimate son of a member of the Invereshie MacPhersons by a gipsy mother. He had great strength and was also an excellent violinist. The counties of Aberdeen, Banff, and Moray went in fear of him and his gipsy followers, until he was seized by Duff of Braco and tried before the sheriff at Banff." He was convicted and sentenced to death. Lindsay, p. 268, thinks that that this song is actually MacPherson's own and that the song we've indexed as "MacPherson's Lament" is Burns's rewrite. I am not convinced that this is actually MacPherson's own, but I agree that it is unlikely to be traditional by origin; it reads like a moralizing broadside, and it's much poorer poetry. It can be told from "MacPherson's Lament" by the first line in the description. For a little more about the MacPherson legend, see "MacPhersons' Lament." - RBW Last updated in version 6.7 File: Ord444 Go to the Ballad Search form Go to the Ballad Index Instructions The Ballad Index Copyright 2025 by Robert B. Waltz and David G. Engle. Note that both Ballad Index articles were written by RBW, also known as Robert B. Waltz, who just happens to have posted above. |
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Subject: ADD Version: MacPherson's Farewell From: Joe Offer Date: 01 Feb 26 - 08:17 PM MAC PHERSON'S FAREWELL Fareweel ye dungeons dark and strang Fareweel, fareweel tae ye. Macpherson s time will no' be lang On yonder gallows tree Sae rantingly, sae wantonly Sae daintily gaed he He played a tune and he danced it round Ablaw the gallows tree There's some come here tae see me hang'd And some tae buy my fiddle But afore that I will part wi' her I'll brak her through the middle And he's took his fiddle in baith his hands And brak it ower a stane The reprieve was coming o'er the Brig o' Banff Tae set Macpherson free But they put the clock a quarter afore And they hang'd him frae the tree Sae rantingly, sae wantonly Sae daintily gaed he He played a tune and he danced it round Ablaw the gallows tree. MACPHERSON, a well-known Scottish brigand, was captured at Keith Market in 1700 and hanged at the Cross of Banff. He was also well known as a fiddle-player, and his defiant end became the subject of numerous broadsides, one of which, Robert Burns, not altogether successfully, recast. His end, at least in the song, is dramatic not only because of his virtuosity but because of the perfidy of the sheriff in moving the hands of the town clock, so that Macpherson could be turned off, as the expression was, before a reprieve arrived. The present text, with its tune, is taken from the composite version made by Norman Buchan from the singing of two Scots Travellers, Jimmy McBeath and Davy Stewart, but adopts Burns's opening stanza. ablaw: below ROUD #2160 Source: Who Killed Cock Robin?: British Folk Songs of Crime and Punishment by Stephen Sedley and Martin Carthy, published in 2021 by Reaktion Books of the English Folk Dance and Song Society, pages 259-60 daintily: that's what it says in the Sedley/Carthy book. |
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Subject: ADD: MacPherson's Rant From: Joe Offer Date: 01 Feb 26 - 08:46 PM MAC PHERSON'S RANT I'VE spent my time in rioting, Debauch'd my health and strength, I've pillag'd, plunder'd, murdered, But now, alas! at length I'm brought to punishment direct, Pale death draws near to me; This end I never did project, To hang upon a tree. To hang upon a tree! a tree! That cursed, unhappy death! Like to a wolf to worried be And choaked in the breath. My very heart would surely break, When this I think upon, Did not my courage singular Bid pensive thoughts begone? No man on earth that draweth breath More courage had than I; I dar'd my foes unto their face, And would not from them fly; This grandeur stout, I did keep out, Like Hector manfullie, Then wonder one like me so stout Should hang upon a tree. Th' Egyptian band I did command With courage more by far Than ever did a general His soldiers in the war. Being fear'd by all, both great and small, I liv'd most joyfullie; O, curse upon this fate of mine, To hang upon a tree! As for my life, I do not care, If justice would take place, And bring my fellow plunderers Unto this same disgrace. For Peter Brown, that notour loon, Escaped and was made free; O, curse upon this fate of mine To hang upon a tree! Both law and justice buried are, And fraud and guile succeed, The guilty pass unpunished, If money intercede. The Laird of Grant, that Highland saunt, His mighty majesty, He pleads the cause of Peter Brown And lets Macpherson dee. The dest'ny of my life contriv'd By those whom I oblig'd, Rewarded me much ill for good And left me no refuge. For Braco Duff, in rage enough, He first laid hands on me; And, if that death would not prevent, Avenged wou'd I be. As for my life it is but short, When I shall be no more; To part with life I am content, As any heretofore. Therefore, good people all, take heed, This warning take by me, According to the lives you lead Rewarded you shall be. Notes: A great many improbable things, and much sentimental rubbish, has been written from time to time regarding the life, trial and execution of James Macpherson, consequently, the following facts collected from many different sources, may be of interest to my readers:— He was born of a beautiful gipsy woman who, at a great wedding, attracted the notice of a half intoxicated Highland gentleman. He acknowledged the child and had him reared at his house until he lost his life pursuing a hostile clan to recover a ver a spreach of cattle taken from Badenoch. The gipsy woman, hearing of this disaster in her rambles the following summer, came and took her boy; but she often returned with him, to wait upon his relations and clansmen, who never failed to clothe him well, besides giving money to his mother. He grew up to beauty, strength, and stature rarely equalled. We are informed that his sword, which was up to recent times preserved in Duff House. Banff, was so heavy that few men could carry it, far less wield it, as a weapon of war. Source: Ord's Bothy Songs and Ballads, pp. 444-445. The Traditional Ballad Index says this song uses the same melody as "MacPherson's Lament." |
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Subject: RE: Origins: MacPherson's Lament or Rant or Farewell From: GUEST,mg Date: 01 Feb 26 - 11:37 PM joe, that last one does not sound like anything I have ever heard. It i not a song I have heard sung much but there are some standard verses. It seems he or his avatar wrote the original tune and some lyrics, and Robert Burns added to it and now the songs are so mixed up. It is still one of the greatest songs ever in my humble opinion. he played a tune and he danced it aroon alow the gallows tree some men gang to see me hang and some to buy my fiddle............. |
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Subject: RE: Origins: MacPherson's Lament or Rant or Farewell From: GUEST,mg Date: 01 Feb 26 - 11:38 PM I am not sure who it was who drove around long beach...I moved to centralia a few months ago so i would not have been able to see you.... |
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Subject: RE: Origins: MacPherson's Lament or Rant or Farewell From: GUEST,mg Date: 02 Feb 26 - 02:13 AM i have been listening nonstop to the rant or lament or whatever it is. this is my favorite. i like the energy. there are prettier voices on youtube, like the corries. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=invaU6mbO54&list=RDinva U6mbO54&index=2 |
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Subject: RE: Origins: MacPherson's Lament or Rant or Farewell From: GUEST,mg Date: 02 Feb 26 - 02:21 AM this looks like a good source and gives the words i mostly have heard https://www.scotslanguage.com/articles/node/id/449/type/referance |
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Subject: RE: Origins: MacPherson's Lament or Rant or Farewell From: Black belt caterpillar wrestler Date: 02 Feb 26 - 04:10 AM Is this the same MacPherson who wrote "MacPherson's lullabye march", which I have a recording of the Andrew Cronshaw band playing? Robin |
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Subject: RE: Origins: MacPherson's Lament or Rant or Farewell From: GUEST,Ewan McVicar Date: 02 Feb 26 - 06:17 AM Before Ray Fisher knew my name she referred to me as 'The Rantin Rovin Boy' because of my vigorous performance of McPherson's Farewell at a Ballad and Blues performance in Glasgow's Iona Community in about 1958. In my experience in Scotland singers tend to refer to his 'Farewell' and fiddlers refer to his 'Rant'. |
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Subject: RE: Origins: MacPherson's Lament or Rant or Farewell From: Sol Date: 02 Feb 26 - 08:35 AM |
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Subject: RE: Origins: MacPherson's Lament or Rant or Farewell From: Sol Date: 02 Feb 26 - 08:43 AM No link on last post so I'll try again. Found this on Youtube - MacPherson's Lament |
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Subject: RE: Origins: MacPherson's Lament or Rant or Farewell From: mayomick Date: 02 Feb 26 - 10:01 AM was Stephen foster thinking of the "he played a tune and he danced aroond " part of the Mcpherson chorus when writing Jeannie with the Light Brown hair ? |
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Subject: RE: Origins: MacPherson's Lament or Rant or Farewell From: Robert B. Waltz Date: 02 Feb 26 - 10:45 AM mayomick wrote: was Stephen foster thinking of the "he played a tune and he danced aroond " part of the Mcpherson chorus when writing Jeannie with the Light Brown hair ? If you look up the biographies of Stephen Foster (I've read three), the main thing you learn is that we know almost nothing reliable about Foster's inspirations (and not all that much about his life). But I think it unlikely; he had little exposure to anything British. |
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Subject: RE: Origins: MacPherson's Lament or Rant or Farewell From: Robert B. Waltz Date: 02 Feb 26 - 11:01 AM Regarding "Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair": I should add that "Jeanie" was Jane McDowell Foster, Foster's wife, often known as "Jennie"; in Foster's draft, he was dreaming of "Jennie," but someone, probably his publishers, made him change it. As regards inspiration: Foster was a musical savant, and probably autistic (not all savants are autistic, but probably 50% are, and Foster's other traits when combined with the savant talents strongly imply an autism diagnosis), so he could absorb things based on unusual exposures. So it's possible that he heard "MacPherson" and did something with it. But there is no evidence for such a supposition. Gershon Legman thought Foster was inspired by "To Daunton Me," but Legman heard connections that no one else heard. |
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Subject: RE: Origins: MacPherson's Lament or Rant or Farewell From: Tattie Bogle Date: 02 Feb 26 - 06:38 PM Sorry Joe: Definitely not “daintily “ in the chorus: nothing dainty about it, far from it! It’s “dauntinly”. If you want a good rumbustious version, check out The Corries.
-Joe- |
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Subject: RE: Origins: MacPherson's Lament or Rant or Farewell From: Jack Campin Date: 03 Feb 26 - 04:00 AM There is also a pipe march version of the tune, more notes and more repeats, doesn't still fit the words. The fake-archaic spelling "lullabye" has to be American, like "aire". I've never heard it called that in Scotland. |
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Subject: RE: Origins: MacPherson's Lament or Rant or Farewell From: Lighter Date: 03 Feb 26 - 08:04 AM No one has mentioned that the song was widely popularized by the Clancy Bros. & Tommy Makem on their 1962 LP "The Boys Wont Leave the Girls Alone." It was later covered by the Dubliners. Both, of coutrse, were Irish groups. The Clancys seem to have learned the song from source singer Jimmy McBeath on "The Columbia World Library of Folk and Primitive Music - Volume VI: Scotland (1955). The Margaret Sinkler manuscript (1710-1717) is indexed here: https://www.hms.scot/manuscripts/mstunes/?ms=15 The tune (not online) is described as "strathspey-like, but no back-dotted rhythms." |
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Subject: RE: Origins: MacPherson's Lament or Rant or Farewell From: meself Date: 03 Feb 26 - 11:43 AM 'The fake-archaic spelling "lullabye" ... ' ... because it couldn't just be a misspelling ..... |
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Subject: RE: Origins: MacPherson's Lament or Rant or Farewell From: Black belt caterpillar wrestler Date: 03 Feb 26 - 12:00 PM It could just be a misspelling because I'm bad at that! Robin |
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Subject: RE: Origins: MacPherson's Lament or Rant or Farewell From: Reinhard Date: 03 Feb 26 - 12:18 PM Looks like a misspelling. On Andrew Cronshaw's album "Wade in the Flood" the title is "Malcolm McPherson's Lullaby", and the sleeve notes say that it was found in William Ross's 1869 "Collection of Pipe Music" as "Malcolm McPherson's Lullaby, march". So it also doesn't havr much to do with the JKa |
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Subject: RE: Origins: MacPherson's Lament or Rant or Farewell From: Reinhard Date: 03 Feb 26 - 12:19 PM ... with the James MacPherson discussed here. |
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Subject: RE: Origins: MacPherson's Lament or Rant or Farewell From: GUEST,jim bainbridge Date: 03 Feb 26 - 01:50 PM For me the finest and most heartfelt version of this song, whatever it's called, came from the traveller singer Davie Stewart. Spent a bit of time with him around 1970- he died in 1972 on a visit to St Andrews folk club, a great venue for the real thing at the time. He was known as the 'galoot' by his friends!- don't know whether you'd include Jimmy McBeath in that description- I heard some pretty pointed 'crack' between them at that time! When in Banff about 40 years ago, I had a meal at a cafe called the 'Broken Fiddle' which had a wonderful mural- it filled one wall! about the whole story- wonder if it's still there? |
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Subject: RE: Origins: MacPherson's Lament or Rant or Farewell From: Lighter Date: 03 Feb 26 - 03:33 PM This sounds to me like Stewart right here. Thanks for mentioning him, Jim: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fi8LPf8UI3U |
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