Author: David Gilfillan

Chorus.

Wha widna Fecht for Charlie?

Wha widna draw the the sword?

Wha widna up an’ rally,                       

At the royal Prince’s word  

         

Think on ancient Scotia’s hero’s

Think on foreign foes repelled

Think on loyal Bruce and Wallace

Wha the proud usurper quelled.

See the northern clans advancing

See Glen Garry and Lochiel

See the brandished broadsword glancing

Highland hearts as true as steel!

Now the prince has raised his banner

Now triumphant is our cause

Now the Scottish lion rallies

Let us strike for Prince and Laws

Chorus.

The water is wide, I can’t cross over

Neither have I wings to fly

Give me a boat  that can carry two

And both shall row, my love and I 

A ship there is and she sails the sea

She’s loaded deep as deep can be

But not so deep as the love I’m in

I know not if I sink or swim

The Water is wide I cannot cross over 

Neither have I the wings to fly

Give me a boat that can carry two

And both shall row my love and I

Oh love be handsome and love be kind

the sweetest flower when first it is new

But love grows old and waxes cold

And fades away like the morning dew

The Water is wide I cannot cross over 

Neither have I the wings to fly

Give me a boat that can carry two

And both shall row my love and I

As I ga’ed oot one morning fair

To view the meadows round

Well there I saw a pretty girl

Come trippin’ o’er the ground

Chorus

Sing blow ye winds in the morning

Blow ye winds aye-o

Clear away the runnin’ gear

And blow, boys, blow

My father has a milk white steed

He keeps it in the stall

It winnae eat it’s hay or corn

And it winnae go at all

I told my tale unto the maid

She laughed right in my face

So I took her off to the horses stall

And I put her in the horses place

She says this is an awful thing

To treat a maiden so

Take off the reigns and halter

And to sea with you I’ll go

She dressed up in her Sunday best

To meet me at the church

But my lugger sailed the night before

And I left her in the lurch

To my fathers farm I can’t go back

For fear she might be there

For the marriage game is not for me

To that I roundly swear

Put a light in the window, your brother’s coming home
Set a meal on the table, your brother’s coming home

He’ll be tired and weary after all these years alone

he’s coming home, your brother’s coming home

Chorus

Coming home to a place they’ve never been

Coming home to a land they’ve never seen                 

Coming home to a family they have never known

All Jock Tamson’s bairns. Are coming home

Take the chain from the door
Your sister’s coming home
Open wide your arms
Your sister’s coming home
Don’t leave her standing there
After all the pain she’s known
She’s coming home,
Your sister’s coming home

He’s been angry and afraid
Your father’s coming home
He’s been hounded and betrayed
Your father’s coming home
And with every act of kindness
A seed of hope is sown
He’s coming home.
Your father’s coming home

Bring her in from the cold
Your mother’s coming home
Sit her down by the fire
Your mother’s coming home
Make her warm, make her welcome
Before the chance is gone
She’s coming home, your mother’s coming home

From New Zealand and Australia
Your family’s coming home
And from Canada and America
Your family’s coming home
To hearth and the Homeland
That they have never known
They’re coming home,
Your family’s coming home.

Last verse changed from original with writers blessing.

O’er The Water Tae Charlie.  Trad. 

Come boat me o’er, come row me o’er

Come boat me o’er to Charlie

I’ll gie John Ross another bawbee

Tae ferry me o’er to Charlie

Chorus.

We’ll o’er the water, we’ll o’er the sea

We’ll o’er the water to Charlie

Come weel, come woe, we’ll gather and go

And live or die wi Charlie

I swear by moon and stars so bright

And sun that glances early

If I had twenty thousand lives

I’d gie them a’ for Charlie

We’ll o’er the water, we’ll o’er the sea

We’ll o’er the water to Charlie

Come weel, come woe, we’ll gather and go

And live or die wi Charlie

Aince I had sons but now I hae nane

I bred them toiling sairly

And I would bear them a’ again

And lose them a’ for Charlie

We’ll o’er the water, we’ll o’er the sea

We’ll o’er the water to Charlie

Come weel, come woe, we’ll gather and go

And live or die wi Charlie

Rough Justice (

Well the young one’s today are all vandals

The buggers are muggers an all

When their not out ram raiding their out there parading 

The stuff they nicked in the last haul

Well hard discipline never did me any harm

And conscription would do them all good

And if I had me way we would go back to the days

When a criminal knew where he stood

Chorus

I’d flock them and flay them and hang them

I’d bring back the birch and the cat

I’d give them what for the strong arm of the law

The thumb screws the stocks and all that

Course we could give them jobs and a future

And their chance of a place in the sun

We could give them fair shares in a country that cares

But it would’t be half as much fun

Well take the probationary service 

They’d  be sacked to a man right away

And all of them shirkers they call social workers

I’d find them real jobs for a change 

Then there be no more pleading for mercy

While stood in the dock looking nervous

When some time served old lag caught red handed with swag

Thanking god for community service                                    No I’d…………..

I could save the poor tax payers money

Do away the jury I say

For a judge worth his salt knows the criminal sort

He can spot them a mile away

It’s their clothes and their haircuts and accents 

It lets them down time after time

With no jury to please a good judge could at ease

Select punishment fit for the crime Like…………..

Well prisons today are like holiday camps

They get snooker ping pong and TV

When their not breaking rocks up they should be chained and lock up

Not studying for a lawyers degrees

There’s no porridge and no bread and water

They get lashings of whisky and per nod

It’s like something of Sky or straight of HI Di HI

When it should be like Dante’s inferno No I’d………..

They say villains need our understanding 

Compassion and help not reproof

but show to much meekness they’ll take it as weakness

And start chucking tiles of the roof 

I admit we might string up a few by mistake

By break the old innocent jurat

It just means they were hung before they did wrong

Well prevention is better than cure           So lets…………..

It’s of a jolly beggarman came tripping o’er the plain

He came unto a farmer’s door a lodging for to gain

The farmer’s daughter she came down and viewed him cheek and chin

She says: “He is a handsome man, I pray you take him in”

Chorus.

We’ll go no more aroving, aroving in the night

We’ll go no more aroving, let the moon shine so bright

We’ll go no more aroving

He would not lie within the barn nor yet within the byre

But he would in the corner lie down by the kitchen fire

Oh then the beggar’s bed was made of good clean sheets and hay

And down beside the kitchen fire the jolly beggar lay

The farmer’s daughter she got up to bolt the kitchen door

And there she saw the beggar standing naked on the floor

He took the daughter in his arms and to the bed he ran

Kind sir” she says “Be easy now, you’ll waken our good man

She lay as still as any mouse as if she had been dead

The beggar he jumped in with her and he stole her maid head

Now you are no beggar, you are some gentleman,

For you have stolen my maidenhead and I am quite undone

I am no lord, I am no squire, of beggars I be one,

And beggars they be robbers all, so you are quite undone

She took her bed in both her hands and threw it at the wall

Says “Go ye with the beggarman, my maidenhead and all!

THE MISSION HALL.   ( Peter Livingstone)

Chorus.

And when your walking the London river

When you’re strolling down the Mall

Nightshift ends in a Soho bar room

Think on back to the Mission Hall.

Winters creepin’ across the sea now

Rain it’s freezing on the wall

Doos and sparrows by the chimney

On the roof of the Mission Hall

.

Oh summer days and smiling faces

Waiting for the night to fall

Making eyes and saving wages 

For the dance at the Mission Hall

Ah when I saw her, well I could have hugged her

Eyes so young wi’ a kindly brow

Breaking hearts with foolish glances 

Breaking lives with foolish vows

.

Well they say that the sweetest kisses 

Surely hide the darkest souls 

And for all that her lovin’ was tender 

Her heart was black as the winter coal

Well she saved the fare for the train to Euston 

Bought a round and shot the craw 

Blew a kiss and blessed the baby

Broke my heart to see her go 

.

Well Fortune cheats when Fortune gambles 

Makes you walk when you can’t crawl 

Fortune pulled a blindewr on me 

By the shade of the Mission Hall.

Twas in the month of sweet july

before the sun had pierced the sky 

was in between the rigs o rye 

I heard twa lovers talking

Noo the lad said “lassie I must away

for I have no longer time to stay

but I’ve a word or two to say

if you have the time tae tarry”

Chorus

O the rigs o rye sway to and fro

as the wind blows seed and nature sows

a season passes the rye will grow

O the rigs o rye grow freely

Noo, your father of ye, he takes great care

and your mother combs down your yellow hair

but your sister says that you’ll get no share

if you go with me, a stranger

Let my father fret let my mother frown

my sisters words I do disown

though they were dead and below the ground

I’d go with you, a stranger

Chorus

O the rigs o rye sway to and fro

as the wind blows seed and nature sows

a season passes the rye will grow

O the rigs o rye grow freely

but lassie, lassie, your fortunes small

and maybe ye will hae nane at all

your no match for me at all

Go lay your love on another

This lassie’s courage began to fail

Her rosy cheeks they grew wan and pale

and tears came trickling doon like hail

or a heavy shower in the summer

Chorus

O the rigs o rye sway to and fro

as the wind blows seed and nature sows

a season passes the rye will grow

O the rigs o rye grow freely

but he’s tain his handkerchief linen fine

He’s wiped her cheeks and he’s kissed her eyen

sayin’ lassie lassie you shall be mine

for I only thought to try you

noo this laddie being of courage bold

for a gallant chief just 19 years old

and he’s raised the hills and the valleys o’er

and he’s tain his lassie wi him

Chorus

O the rigs o rye sway to and fro

as the wind blows seed and nature sows

a season passes the rye will grow

O the rigs o rye grow freely

Black Black Gold. (Words and music D. Gilfillan)

In days gone bye when you went to sea 

And you said goodbye on the Aberdeen Quay

The only harvest you could reap

Was the Silver darlings from the deep

Chorus

through the wind and rain and snow and sleet

comes the greatest harvest from the deep 

form the North sea so cruel and cold

comes the treasure called the black black gold

For ten long years at Cruden bay 

The oil keeps coming home each day

From a place the call the forties field

From the man made islands made of steel

From the divers in the murky gloom

To those who working with the broom

The riggers the flyers all one team

All part of a well oiled machine

Far from the mainland out of sight

Like an out stretched arm with all its might

For a nation torn with trouble and strife

Like blood from the heart it’s giving life.