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Evenin's Fa'"Great songs. Great album. A voice in a million." Ian McCalmanTracklisting: 1. Cartwheel (Show/Hide Lyrics) A happy day on Traigh Losgaintir in Harris. My daughter was still a wee girl (she would have been about seven years old). There's a photo of her on a beautiful day, when you wouldn't swap Harris for anywhere, doing a cartwheel on the huge empty beach. The tune is more or less an Irish air 'The Banks of the Suir' which I heard on a Micheal O Suilleabhain CD I borrowed from the library. The white birds are gannets. Words: Scott in the blue days of summer where the waves meet the sand in the grey days of autumn when the mist’s on the town in the green days of springtime when the first buds appear 2. Clarabad Mill (Show/Hide Lyrics) Looking into family history took me down to Clarabad Mill, near Berwick-upon-Tweed, where a great great great grandfather, William Murray, was the miller. He had a daughter Sarah who died the same year as her father in 1832, when she was just seven. I thought I'd make a cheerier outcome for her, and for him. I had great fun using the names of farms and mills other forebears had worked, and finding them on OS maps - one in East Lothian, one in Northumberland, the rest in Berwickshire. Words/tune: Scott Ah’ll aye be thankfu for the fortune that Ah had laddies cam frae a the airts frae Meikle Pinkertonan Letham Shank it's seventeen years that Ah've been wad an oor dochter Sarah ye're noo sixteen 3. A Dyker's Compliments (Show/Hide Lyrics) A New Makars Trust Celebrating Fife song. I gathered some pithy sayings the ladies at Ladywalk House in Anstruther came out with and juggled the words around. A Dyker is someone from Cellardyke, adjacent to Anstruther but never to be confused with it. The tune came after the rhythm of the words, walking down to Kinghorn station at 7 o’clock one winter morning. It's on Sangsters' album Sharp & Sweet (CDTRAX 207) but this version breathes new life into it with the fiddles and viola, and Jenny's cheery tune, which she has called 'The Dykers'. Words/tune: Scott keep yer ain fish guts tae yer ain sea maws an wha’s acht ye ma bonnie lass ye lookin at me ye Anster daw what’s that ye’re sayin Ah canna tell ye can keep yer Crail yer Pittenweem 4. February (Show/Hide Lyrics) I've walked in the hills in winter and come across the remains of cottages in remote places, and wondered how the folk managed to survive the cold dark months there. In 2000 the National Portrait Gallery had an exhibition called 'A Shepherd's Life', about a woman called Jenny Armstrong who shepherded at Fairliehope in the Pentland Hills. Victoria Crowe is the painter. I loved the greys, umbers and ochres she used - a truer reflection of our landscape than the brightly coloured Mediterranean croft scenes that sell so well. Oops, a wee bee slipped out from under my bonnet. Words/tune: Scott winter is harsh now February's here the dogs lie close on the cold stone floor morning follows the darkest night but soon the sun will warm the air 5. Gathersnaw Hill (Show/Hide Lyrics) This celebrates a day spent in the southern upland hills of Scotland - calm, warm, just a wee perfect breeze. I was thinking how lucky I am to have all that I have. On the way home by Biggar and West Linton, a voice on the wireless was describing the pulling down of Saddam's statue in Baghdad. The tune came before the words, about the time my father died. Gathersnaw Hill was one of the hills I’d walked over that day. Words/tune: Scott on the braes of Gathersnaw Hill curlews and larks call above and Talla shines bright in the clear air 6. Mary's Song (Show/Hide Lyrics) A poem by Marion Angus. I'm not the first to find songs in the work of Marion Angus and Violet Jacob and I won't be the last. Commentators find references in this poem to the ballads, to the Christian celebration of the Eucharist, and to the Song of Solomon. 'Voices From Their Ain Countrie' edited by Katherine Gordon, published by Association of Scottish Literary Studies, is where you’ll find the work of both these women. And there is a fine anthology of Marion Angus' work by Aimee Chalmers, 'The Singin Lass', published by Polygon. Alan J Byatt kindly gave permission for the words to be used. Words: Marion Angus, the wand’ring bee it seeks the rose my beloved shall hae this hert tae break 7. To Roll Her In Ma Plaidie (Show/Hide Lyrics) Looking for cheery material for Linten Adie, the community singing group I work with in Edinburgh, I came across this. I couldn't find a tune for it anywhere, so I made this one up. I've since heard it sung to another tune by the Foundry Bar Band on a Springthyme recording. Enough folk like this tune so I've kept it. Words: Ord's Bothy Songs & Ballads there lives a lass by yonder burn her breist tae busk Ah’d violets pu Ah’ll ben my spense an dress a wee 8. Kings and Pipers (Show/Hide Lyrics) Not many songs about tatties. This is a doff of the hat to all the fine bothy ballad singers I've had the fortune to hear. I spent two summers in the mid-nineties roguing spuds in Angus and Perthshire. It could be hard going in the rain and wind, but on a good day it was glorious. There's a wee acknowledgment to the late great Jim Reid in the Letham/Bowriefaud verse. I asked Mattie, who recorded this album, to make this track sound as if it was being sung in a half-full Kirriemuir Town Hall – we decided to leave out the crisps, the lavatory being flushed and the mobile phone going off. Words/tune: Scott tae Ferniefauld and Cairncortie frae the heights o Kingoldrum man what a sicht tae view we work a the oors in thae lang simmer days there's lassies frae college there's laddies frae Dundee the field's been passed, the inspector mannie's been an gane we’ve rogued Peer an Crown Duke o York Squire an Bard 9. I Thought I Had No Voice (Show/Hide Lyrics) I worked on the Inspire Project with the Scots Music Group in 2010-2011, funded by Creative Scotland. Tutors worked with four groups of vulnerable folk, and what a great time we had. Towards the end of the project I put together thoughts collected from the groups about what the project had meant to them with a wee tune that started life on a break in County Sligo. Words, tune: Scott we’ve had guid times thegither we ken that life’s no easy I thought I had no voice we raise our voice in song our time is nearly over I hope the sun shines for you 10. She's Hoy'd Me Out O Lauderdale (Show/Hide Lyrics) I love going over Soutra and down into Lauderdale. It's the start of an adventure. And when I come over it heading north, then it means home is nearing, and I can very nearly see it on the north shores of the Forth. This is in 'Merry Muses of Caledonia', a collection of bawdy songs found in one of Robert Burns's notebooks after his death. I can't see why this song appears there as it seems simply to be about his fiddle. Aye right. It's described as an 'old song revised by Burns'. I couldn't find a tune for it and after a few days of saying the words and getting the rhythm this one came into my head. Words: Merry Muses of Caledonia there lived a lady in Lauderdale first when I cam to Lauderdale first when I cam to Lauderdale 11. A Small Place In Assynt (Show/Hide Lyrics) Anne and I have become very attached to a wee place in Sutherland, and we've become even more attached to the folk who live there. 'A small place in Assynt' is how it's described in a gazetteer I found – well, it is in one way. Quinag, Canisp and Conival are the three big hills that surround it. The six airmen referred to crashed in 1941 on a training exercise. The two men are Peach and Horne, great figures in geology. The last verse came the day after we heard that Jane's dear husband Ted had died. This is for Helen and Willie, Jane and Ted. Words/tune: Scott Quinag and Canisp and Conival it tells of six fliers who never made home it tells of two men who looked and saw it tells how the stags roar their passion it tells of a woman who wept by its banks and they say on a pleasant evening 12. Maggie's Song (Show/Hide Lyrics) A few years ago I fleetingly met a woman who had just lost a baby. The baby had been born, but had only lived a short while. His name was Theo. My wife and I were working at Edinburgh's Youth Gaitherin, a joyous four days of singing. During these four days we met Maggie. Grief seemed to emanate from her. She could barely speak. A tune came into my head, stayed there. Maggie got to hear it, years later, and was happy for me to make it into a song. Words/tune: Scott the earth tilts tae the sun bonny flooers are bloomin but the birds hae tint their music they say there’ll come a time an they say auld Embra toon 13. We'll Follow The Music (Show/Hide Lyrics) Another song which came from the Inspire Project, one of the highlights of my working life so far. One of the other tutors, Jenny Gardner, is a creative force to be reckoned with, and she came up with this waltz, which she called 'The Gift'. Storyteller Ruth Kirkpatrick, Jenny and I all met together and played around with words. These are the ones I came up with, trying to express what we all had got from the project, and how we had no intention of letting it finish. Words: Scott the streets o auld Embra they echo wi sangs frae Capelaw an Caerketton tae the shores o the Forth an I hope you've found something tae mak ye feel proud for now come an dance the last waltz wi me
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All songs arranged by Jenny Gardner & Scott Murray Musicians: Singers: |
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©2012 Scott Murray | ![]() |