Help with language and pronunciation in the General Guide to Scots

Digital Tradition describes this as an "old Scots lullaby". That is about as accurate as describing The Peatbog Soldiers as a song about German argricultural workers. How anyone who has read the text could reach that opinion is quite beyond my poor wee human intelligence. I suppose the fact that it has the words "hush", "sleep" and "baby" rendered the rest of the song irrelevent to whoever at Digital Tradition decides these things.

It is in fact a bitterly angry modern song by Jim McLean about the savagery and mass deportations of what is now called the Highland Clearance during the 19th century when whole tribal communities were destroyed and the people shipped by force to Cape Breton and Nova Scotia. This was the Final Solution to the problem of the Gaels' tenacious holding on to our older native way of life and culture. People refer to the Highlands of Scotland as Europe's last great wilderness - it is a man-made wilderness. 200 years ago it was widely populated with our people.

For anyone wishing to find out about this terrible time, 'The Highland Clearances' by John Prebble is a good place to start.

And, yes, I have pointed out all the above to the folks at Digital Tradition but they expressed complete indifference and made it clear that they had no intention of correcting the ridiculous inaccuracy. Jim McLean's none too happy about it.

I've never recorded this but sing it live sometimes when the spirit moves me. Has been recorded by Alistair MacDonald, among others.

Live performance only

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