Rough Justice. (Boulton/Parton.)

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…………..

The Jolly Beggarman

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!

Mission Hall

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.

The Rigs o Rye . Trad (Chorus by Dave Gilfillan.)

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.

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.



North Sea Gas

North Sea Gas. (Words and music D. Gilfillan)

Let us dwell for a moment on the riches from the sea

From the fish the oil and the gas

And the men who have worked upon the trawlers and the rigs

From the first light of the day unto the last

Chorus

So lets raise a glass to the north sea gas

To the men who bring it home to you and me

For the people of today its a gift from the past

From the fields far below the Northern sea

Far from shore at west cove this treasures does emerged

From the deep given heat and the might

That keeps the wheels a turning And a strong flame a burning

An asset to the nation shining bright

Chorus

So lets raise a glass to the north sea gas

To the men who bring it home to you and me

For the people of today its a gift from the past

From the fields far below the Northern sea

For the smelters the factories The office and the home

For the people be them young be them old

For the nations future for the rich and for the poor

For the people to have and to hold

Double chorus

So lets raise a glass to the north sea gas

To the men who bring it home to you and me

For the people of today its a gift from the past

From the fields far below the Northern sea

Sweet Eleanor.

Sweet Eleanor. (Words D. Gilfillan.. Music. Doyle & Swan)

She was just four years old when she was passed from the train

By a kind and pretty girl she never knew her name

And they walked hand in hand on that bright summers day

To a camp just by Belsen where they were told they’d have to stay

Her Mother wasn’t well she was kept to he rear

Where she cradled Eleanor all huddled in fear

And Eleanor would dream in the dark lonely nights

Of her soft gentle kiss that put her world to rights

Chorus

Oh Sweet Eleanor may you rest in peace

May the lords arms enfold you in your eternal sleep

May your life be remembered for the pain that you bore

May the shame of your death be recalled for evermore

It didn’t last to long for sweet Eleanor

For the pain and the suffering she had little strength for

On o cold April night back in nineteen forty four 

She closed her eyes said goodbye to the world, Sweet Eleanor

There’s no fancy gravestone to tell where she lay

There’s no record no photograph to mark her short stay

For she’s one of many more who lie dead among the trees

But for now and evermore sweet Eleanor will be free

May your life be remembered for the pain that you bore

May the shame of your death be recalled for evermore.

Rosslyn (words and music D.Gilfillan)

.

Chorus

If you don’t believe Di Vinci come along and I’ll convince ye

I’ll tell you o’ some history that will thrill ye ta the bone

There’s Celtic christian, pagan rites, there’s masons and their’s Templar knights

Come to Rosslyn chapel for it’s written there in stone

.

It’s a fascinating engagement to be told of things so ancient

Laid out in fine arrangement come along and have a look

You can do it at a saunter as around the place ye wander

It will make you think and ponder, someone should write a book !!

.Chorus.

There are green men growing old as the seasons do unfold

Telling stories yet untold make of it what you wish

There are theory’s written of the craft some that are plainly daft 

Other’s that will make you laugh, most of them are rubbish

.Churus.

You may think it all authentic or you may be a sceptic

Or simply enjoy the rhetoric in tales of days gone by

You may seek the holy grail and your hotfoot on it’s trail

And your thinking you may prevail, well at least you can give it a try

.Chorus.

Here’s something I mistook cause if you care to look

They’re selling Dan Browns book in the shop at Rosslyn Chapel

His writing was a sin It’s enough to make you grin

By Christ they’re packing the tourist in, so blasphemy nae hassle 

.Chorus

There are Europeans and Asians and folk from every nation

Chinese and Japanese stand beneath the roof of stars

There are upset theologians, Gregorians and historians

Some of them Singaporeans, there’s bus loads coming frae Mars

.Chorus

So you’ve read it in the papers about the Rosslyn capers

Scrolls and secret chambers hidden somewhere underground

It’s a repository full of Allegory covering each and every category

I state it categorically “There’s secrets still to be found” 

Chorus.

Haul Away

Haul away. (words and music D. Gilfillan.)

Chorus.

Haul away haul away steady as we go

It’s a hard way to earn your pay

Breaking your back to haul in the catch

It’s haul away haul away 

.

It’s a man’s job you know and you’ll learn as you go 

The lessons you’ll never forget

For there’s no place to cower when the weather turns sour

And your working the dark rolling deck

.

It’s old Danny’s last trip he’s calling it quits

It’s his last time out with the crew

Thou the seas in his veins his body’s in pain

Nothing else for an old man to do

.

My grandad was a fisherman so was my dad

I’ve spent my life working the sea

My laddies no keen say’s it’s no his scene

Just the way that things seem to be

.

It was hard in the past but it’s just as hard not

We remember the days gone bye

But the fish are near gone thou we’re still fishing on

We’ll be hauling these nets till we die.

Montrose (words & Music .Dave Gilfillan)

Oh Montrose oh Montrose 

They say that ye dance well

There are those who will never rest

Until ye dance in hell

.

At Tippermuir and Aberdeen

They remember you where there

On Alford and on Auldearn muir

Ye played them awfy sair

.

The bold Argyle he rued the day

On the Inverlochy field

When ye chased him frae the castle

And yer fate was surely sealed

.

Ye held this land within yer hand

North South East and West

Six thousand men on Kilsyth field

Ye left them their to rest

.

In Leslie ye met yer match

In the rout of Philiphaugh 

And Invercarron saw the end 

On that bloody field of gore

.

Aye there ye stand on gallows high

In Edinburgh toon

And yer enemies in the high street thrang

Tae see ye tumbling doon

.

Oh Montrose oh Montrose 

They say that ye dance well

There are those who will never rest

Until ye dance in hell

.

Oh Montrose oh Montrose 

They sae that your in hell

If there’s any man who surely can

You’ll be dancing there as well