Lyr Req: Leave Us Our Glens (G Donald, B Hardie)

Subject: A Song about the 'Glens' (whiskey)
From: Susanl
Date: 13 Oct 04 - 11:56 PM

My sister and I are trying to find the lyrics and music (or even just the title) for a song in which the narrator lists the things they miss about Scotland. The chorus is about missing the "Glens" the most. Glenfiddich, Glenlivet, etc. Can anyone help? Thank you.

Subject: Lyr Add: LEAVE US OUR GLENS (G Donald, B Hardie)
From: Stewie
Date: 14 Oct 04 - 02:15 AM

A good friend of mine, Lynne Stone, sings this song here in Oz. I started transcribing it from a recording I have of her singing but, fortunately, given the listing of Scots brews I wot not of, I found that it was available on the Net in Henry's Songbook:

LEAVE US OUR GLENS
(George Donald/Buff Hardie)

I love Scotland's glens, and whatever else we lose
Please leave us our glens, our glorious glens
Our mountains as grand, Ben Nevis, Ben Lomond too
You can have all those bens, but leave us our glens

(Chorus)
Glenfiddich, Glendronach, Glenlivet, Glen Grant
Can you do without them? If you must know, I can't
Put a drop in the glass of Glen Spey or Glen Drotter
It's a perfectly bearable way to drink water

I'd willingly lose our culture, or most of it
Including that mess they call 'full Highland dress'
With the whole ethnic bit of haggis and Hogmanay
I'd gladly dispense, but leave us our glens

Glenfiddich, Glendronach, Glenlivet, Glen Fall
I once knew a man who had sampled them all
Glenisla, Glenugie, Glenkinchie, that's plenty
He looked sixty-five, but in fact he was twenty

Take our Highlands scottische, take our marches, strathspeys and reels
Take our old Scottish waltz, but leave us our malts
You can take, if you wish, our ladies' conveniences
And our gentlemen's - but leave us our glens

Glenfiddich, Glendronach, Glenlivet, Glenfyne
Was great at communion when we ran out of wine
Glenisla, Glenugie, Glenkinchie, Glenmorangie
I prefer them to Quantro which I find too orangey

Oh breathe there a Scot whose aims and priorities
When laid on the line, are different from mine
Take our homes, take our jobs, take anything else you will
Wife, family and friends, but leave us our glens

Chorus

Source: copied from Henry's Songbook CLICK.

--Stewie.

---

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrlqDYnangw

Subject: RE: A Song about the 'Glens' (whiskey)
From: Blowzabella
Date: 14 Oct 04 - 03:10 AM

I've heard (not surprisingly, I suppose) The McCalmans and Tich Frier perform this - very funny song!)

Subject: RE: A Song about the 'Glens' (whiskey)
From: Murray MacLeod
Date: 14 Oct 04 - 03:39 AM

Good song, and he McCalmans do indeed perform a sparkling rendition.

"Quantro", should of course be spelt "Cointreau" ....

Subject: RE: A Song about the 'Glens' (whiskey)
From: Jim McLean
Date: 14 Oct 04 - 08:11 AM

And whiskey should be spelled whisky.

Subject: RE: A Song about the 'Glens' (whiskey)
From: Susanl
Date: 14 Oct 04 - 12:45 PM

Thanks Stewie. That's the song. I appreciate your help. Thanks for taking the trouble. We're singing it at a memorial for a Scottish friend who loved that song.

Jim, is "whisky" the proper Scottish spelling or are you just correcting my spelling in general? As far as I know, there are two acceptable spellings for the word, the one I used and the one you used.

Subject: RE: A Song about the 'Glens' (whiskey)
From: MoorleyMan
Date: 14 Oct 04 - 12:46 PM

And don't ye forget Robin Laing's fine version (I think it's on the Angel's Share CD).

Subject: RE: A Song about the 'Glens' (whiskey)
From: GUEST,Alisdair
Date: 14 Oct 04 - 12:53 PM

> Jim, is "whisky" the proper Scottish spelling or are you just
> correcting my spelling in general? As far as I know, there are two
> acceptable spellings for the word, the one I used and the one you
> used.

Whisky for Scotch Whisky (irrespective of whether it is malt or grain).

Whiskey for the others - Irish, US, Rye, Bourbon etc.

Alisdair

Subject: RE: A Song about the 'Glens' (whiskey)
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 14 Oct 04 - 01:09 PM

This was written by two thirds of a now defunct act called 'Scotland the What?' If you ever get a chance to hear any of their recordings grab it with both hands, you won't regret it.
Giok

Subject: Lyr Add: LEAVE US OUR GLENS (G Donald, B Hardie)
From: Scabby Douglas
Date: 14 Oct 04 - 01:56 PM

A couple of minor corrections:

LEAVE US OUR GLENS
(George Donald/Buff Hardie)

I love Scotland's glens, and whatever else we lose
Please leave us our glens, our glorious glens
Our mountains are grand, Ben Nevis, Ben Lomond too
You can have all those bens, but leave us our glens

(Chorus)
Glenfiddich, Glenlivet, Glendronach, Glen Grant
Can you do without them? If you must know, I can't
Put a drop in the glass of Glen Spey or Glendrottar
It's a perfectly bearable way to drink water

I'd willingly lose our culture, or most of it
Including that mess called 'full Highland dress'
With the whole ethnic bit, with haggis and Hogmanay
I'd gladly dispense, but leave us our glens

Glenfarclas, Glenlochy, Glengarioch, Glenfaul
I once knew a man who had sampled them all
Glenisla, Glenugie, Glenkinchie, that's plenty
He looked sixty-five, but in fact he was twenty

Take our Highland scottische, take our marches, strathspeys and reels
Take our old Scottish waltz, but leave us our malts
You can take, if you wish, our ladies' conveniences
And our gentlemen's - but leave us our glens

Glenturret, Glen Scotia and last week Glenfyne
Was great at communion when we ran out of wine
Glenglassough, Glenlossie, Glendullan, Glenmorangie
I prefer them to Cointreau which I find too orangey

Oh breathe there a Scot whose views on priorities
When laid on the line, are different from mine
Take our homes, take our jobs, take anything else you will
Wife, family and friends, but leave us our glens

(as per "Scotland the What? - Collected Sketches And Songs")

Subject: RE: A Song about the 'Glens' (whiskey)
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 14 Oct 04 - 02:09 PM

Whisky has become the standardized spelling in Scotland, but formerly both were acceptable, if you read the old literature and broadsides. Forgetting the Gaelic which is not verified earlier in print, the first printed usage in Scotland of the word was whiskie (1715). The plural is still whiskies. Modern trade usage is whisky. Say single malt and avoid confusion and blends.
This is a little like the rope-line argument of the chantey singers.

The McCalmans version- do they include "Macallan" in the verses?
Also no mention of the robust Laphroaig, or the smooth Highland Park, etc. How can one sing the song and omit any of them!

Subject: RE: A Song about the 'Glens' (whiskey)
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 14 Oct 04 - 02:29 PM

Because the song is about glens!
Giok

Subject: RE: A Song about the 'Glens' (whiskey)
From: Susanl
Date: 14 Oct 04 - 02:53 PM

Thanks for the minor corrections Scabby,for the original band John and to Alisdair for the clarification about the spelling of whiskey/whisky. Also to Q for even more clarification.

I love the mudcat. You guys are great.

Subject: RE: A Song about the 'Glens' (whiskey)
From: Murray MacLeod
Date: 15 Oct 04 - 03:03 AM

Q, as I am sure you are aware, in 1715 there was no such thing as standardised spelling anywhere in the English-speaking world, and consequently no "wrong" way to spell a word (or "right" way either).

Men of letters were perfectly happy spelling the same word in different ways, sometimes even in the same sentence.

Nowadays, for better or for worse, we do have standardised spelling, and the standardised spelling for Scotch is whisky, for both single-malt and blended.

I do agree with you however about avoiding blended whisky ...

Subject: RE: A Song about the 'Glens' (whiskey)
From: PoppaGator
Date: 15 Oct 04 - 01:43 PM

The earlier posting of lyrics, with all the misspellings, might have been easier to read phonetically. For example, I know how to pronounce "Cointreau," but if I didn't, I would find it easier to learn the correct pronunciation by reading "Quantro."

If I *knew* how to pronounce all those various "glens," I could make a better judgement about how effectively the misspellings might have provided useful phonetic representations of the names.

For those of us who are neither Scots nor connosseurs of Scotch, the pronunciation of many of these whiskys can be quite problematic. (Laphroaig?)

Subject: RE: A Song about the 'Glens' (whiskey)
From: Susanne (skw)
Date: 15 Oct 04 - 01:46 PM

Steven, thanks for the corrections. Stewie omitted the fact that the version on My Songbook is as sung by Iain MacKintosh, but the spelling mistakes are all mine and will be corrected in due course! BTW, I always thought Cointreau was blue, which is why I never connected the two. (But then, I'm not an experienced drinker.)

Subject: RE: A Song about the 'Glens' (whiskey)
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 15 Oct 04 - 03:49 PM

Lafroyg is neer enuf to Laphroaig, and it's Curacao(with a cedilla on the second c - a wee squiggle underneath) wot's blue. (pron cure-a-syo or thereabouts)
Cointreau (Quantro) is colourless, but Grand Marnier (gron marniay) which is also orange-flavoured is orange-coloured (cullered) Confewsed?
Great song of course as I drift off the thread!
TB

Subject: RE: A Song about the 'Glens' (whiskey)
From: Susanne (skw)
Date: 16 Oct 04 - 12:20 PM

Apologies for mixing my spirits! That's the way I am ...

Subject: RE: A Song about the 'Glens' (whiskey)
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 16 Oct 04 - 02:09 PM

Prost!

Subject: RE: A Song about the 'Glens' (whiskey)
From: Sandy Mc Lean
Date: 16 Oct 04 - 04:34 PM

In Cape Breton there is a single malt whisky distilled at Glenora Distillery in Glenville (two miles from Glenora). Nowhere on the lable is this called scotch but the distilling industry in Scotland thinks that they should have exclusive use of the word "glen" so the fight is on. The distillery is owned by a MacLean and Cape Breton is more Gaelic than most areas of Scotland. Glen is a Gaelic word but the Spannish / Scotch industry is cheeky enough to think that they own it.
                Slainte,
                  Sandy

Subject: RE: A Song about the 'Glens' (whiskey)
From: Sandy Mc Lean
Date: 16 Oct 04 - 04:36 PM

PS
This whisky is called Glen Breton.

Subject: RE: A Song about the 'Glens' (whiskey)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 17 Oct 04 - 05:26 PM

I was inspired to do a bit of research:

The liqueur Curação is named after the island Curação, which is part of the Netherland Antilles. The natives of Curação speak a Creole language called Papiamentu whose vocabulary derives mostly from Portuguese, Spanish, and Dutch.

"Coração" is the Portuguese word for "heart," the equivalent of the Spanish "corazón." So I assume "Curação" is simply the Papiamentu spelling, or perhaps an obsolete Portuguese spelling.

As near as I can figure, the syllable "ção" is pronounced exactly like the French pronunciation of the word "cent" (hundred).

Subject: RE: A Song about the 'Glens' (whiskey)
From: GUEST,Susan-MArie
Date: 26 Apr 05 - 03:51 PM

So has anyone transcribed this tune, or better yet, figured out the guitar chords? A friend really wants to learn this so I said I'd help him out....

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Leave Us Our Glens (G Donald, B Hardie)
From: GUEST,Skye Weir
Date: 04 Sep 18 - 06:35 PM

I just came across this thread 13 years after the fact, but I think the chords in the background are just D and A throughout the song.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Leave Us Our Glens (G Donald, B Hardie)
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 05 Sep 18 - 07:27 AM

Here as sung by George Donald of Scotland the What:
Leave Us our Glens