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Tho We Lang Syne Landit oan Fair Isle

from Land and Sea (2017) by Bob Leslie

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about

While researching family history, I discovered that my branch of the Leslies (a lowland clan) had ended up on Fair Isle as Covenanter refugees fleeing the King's vengeance after the Battle of Bothwell Brig. When the heat died down in the 1690s, they began to drift north to Shetland and south to Orkney. Mine is the Orcadian branch.

lyrics

The King forswore his oath and drave us tae the fields
The bishops and the lairds aa power they wid wield
In State and in the Kirk and in the minds o aa
The Covenant we'd signed left us ootside their law
Claverhoose's men aa mounted on their greys
Wid ride us doun at prayer, their swords sae fiercely raised
Ah still hear the cries o bairns an see the fawin blades
Tho we lang syne landit oan Fair Isle

Throu fines an forfeiture they reived us o wir land
Wi thumbikens and boot they maimed wir limbs and hands
Twa bonny maids at Wigtoun drount in Solway Firth
Claverhoose jist laughed, we cursed his bluidy birth
Soon, at auld Drumclog, poort watter oan his fire
As he fled back tae Glesga strugglin through the mire
Ah mind weel hou lood we cheert tae see wir foe retire
Tho we lang syne landit oan Fair Isle

Then militiamen wi Monmouth maircht tae brek wir lines
At Bothwell Brig we stood and held them for a time
Wantin skeelie sodjers, pouder, guns and shot
We could fecht nae mair, sae ran 'fore we war caught
Herrit tae the coast, freends helpt us oan wir wey
But aa the road tae Orkney, Royalists held sway.
Mony deed o hunger, mony gaed astray
Afore we landit oan Fair Isle
Noo twenty years hiv gaun, Ah still greet for thae days
Tho we lang syne landit oan Fair Isle

credits

from Land and Sea (2017), released August 1, 2017

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all rights reserved

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Bob Leslie Glasgow, UK

Bob Leslie's music is now available on a "NAME YOUR OWN PRICE" basis!
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“I can think of no other songwriter who has mined this rich vein
with such lyrical ease and with no mean ear for melody. ”
Alan Reid, Battlefield Band ... more

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