Lyr Req: We shall see the shores of Scotland

Subject: Lyr Req: We shall see the shores of Scotland
From: Sandy Mc Lean
Date: 29 Mar 03 - 09:48 AM

I am looking for the words and title to a song that my mother used to sing......
As we stand beneath the rigging on the watch that ends the night
We shall see the shores of Scotland with the coming dawning light

That's all of the words that I can remember. The tune was similar or the same as "Kevin Barry."
Any help would be much appreciated!
             Sandy

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: We shall see the shores of Scotland
From: belfast
Date: 29 Mar 03 - 12:48 PM

As the tune for "Kevin Barry" seems to have come from the song "Rolling Home to Dear Old England" there is a chance that the song you are looking for is another variant. In you put "Rolling Home" into the search thingy you will get at least three possibilities. "Rolling home2" includes this verse;

And we'll sing in joyful chorus
In the watches of the night,
And we'll greet the shores of England
When the grey dawn breaks the light.

It's a bit reminiscent of the lines you remember.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: We shall see the shores of Scotland
From: GUEST,Mac Tattie
Date: 29 Mar 03 - 01:36 PM

There is also an other version, "Rolling Home to Caledonia". This was a song that Niel Munro's Puffer Captain, Parra Handy often sang a fiew lines off. Archie Fisher also sings " Rolling Home to Caledonia"
   cheers

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: We shall see the shores of Scotland
From: Sandy Mc Lean
Date: 29 Mar 03 - 02:16 PM

Thanks belfast!
It sure seems like "Rolling Home to Dear Old England" is closely related.
On a search on Google, one site said that this song was based on a poem by Charles Mac Kay.
A person by that name may be more moved to write about Scotland, than England, so maybe my mothers version was the original, but I speculate.
My mother has been dead for over 30 years so I can not ask her. She sang many songs in English but most everything related to Scotland was in Gaelic. I just wonder if this song in English came over to Cape Breton with my people so many years ago.
Thanks also to Mac Tattie! Does "Rolling Home to Caledonia have the same air? I'll try a search for the words.
    Thanks again ,
          Slainte,
                Sandy

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: We shall see the shores of Scotland
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 29 Mar 03 - 02:48 PM

The original Rolling Home, written in 1858, spoke of England, and that is probably still the most usual; though it was quickly taken up by popular tradition, and has been localised to various ports in the USA, to "Caledonia" or "Bonny Scotland", and even parts of Germany.

Charles MacKay was indeed Scottish. He was born in Perth in 1814, and edited the Glasgow Argus and subsequently The Illustrated London News. At the time he wrote Rolling Home to Dear Old England, he was returning there from New York, where he was the Times correspondent. He wrote other song lyrics, too, and achieved considerable success with There's a Good Time Coming and Cheer, Boys, Cheer. A number of his pieces can be seen at  The Lester Levy Sheet Music Collection. Literature ran in the family; his son Eric was a poet, and his daughter was the enormously successful novelist Marie Corelli.

See also earlier discussions here.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: We shall see the shores of Scotland
From: GUEST,Mac Tattie
Date: 29 Mar 03 - 02:53 PM

The Rolling homes to England/Caledonia are close, if not the verry same, to each other. As to being close to "Kevin Barry"? NO.
cheers.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: We shall see the shores of Scotland
From: Sandy Mc Lean
Date: 29 Mar 03 - 03:00 PM

Thanks for the insight Malcolm! I never cease to be amazed at the knowledge on this forum.
       Moran taing a ris!
             Sandy

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: We shall see the shores of Scotland
From: Little Robyn
Date: 29 Mar 03 - 07:04 PM

Of course Kevin Barry has the same tune as the Rolling Home variants - they've all been 'folked' a little, to suit the words/singer's style etc. And different versions have different timings too.
It's even in Digitrad as the same tune!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: We shall see the shores of Scotland
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 24 Feb 11 - 02:18 PM

Google Books tells me that these words appear in Songs of Phi Delta Theta ([USA]: The Fraternity, 1922), page 323:

"... of the night,
We shall see the shores of Scotland at the dawning of the light...."

From what I know of copyright law, this book should be in the public domain (if 1922 is the correct date), but Google hasn't made the images viewable. I don't know why.

Google doesn't find those exact words anywhere else.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: We shall see the shores of Scotland
From: Sandy Mc Lean
Date: 24 Feb 11 - 03:35 PM

I guess old threads never die! Thanks again to all! I also found that Kendall sings a version, Rolling Home To Old New England. I was inspired to write my own variant a few years ago using some of the older phrasing and adding some new:

ROLLING HOME TO OLD CAPE BRETON
Call all hands to man the capstan
Keep the cable running clear
Haul the anchor, hoist the canvas
For our homeland we will steer
Fare thee well, you Boston maidens
Time has come to say adieu
Happy hours we've spent together
But we can't remain with you

Rolling home, rolling home
Rolling home across the sea
Rolling home to old Cape Breton
Rolling home dear land to thee

When we clear the harbour markers
'Cross the Gulf Of Maine we'll sail
Bearing out towards Cape Sable
Running hard before the gale
Along the coast of Nova Scotia
As we fight a heavy storm
Many hundred miles behind us
Just a few more miles before

As we stand beneath the rigging
On the watch that ends the night
We will see Cape Breton Island
With the coming morning light
From of Cape Canso in the darkness
Through Chedabucto Bay we'll go
And drop anchor in Ship Harbour
God will bring us safely home

© 2006 A.McLean