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This is a rewrite (by Alan Dickson) of the traditional Aberdeenshire ballad, ‘Oh! Gin I Were Whaur Gaudie Rins’. Here, Alan brings together fragments of poems, written by local poets at the time. By the middle of the 19th century there were around 70 ‘squatters’ living in a colony on the common land of Bennachie Hill, before local lairds (in 1859) controversially appropriated the land. By the 1870s many of the tenants had been evicted as they couldn’t afford the rent.

lyrics

O gin I were whaur Gadie rins,
Whaur Gadie rins, whaur Gadie rins,
O gin I were whaur Gadie rins
At the back o' Bennachie.
There’s plenty meal an’ plenty ale
Plenty ale, plenty ale
There’s plenty meal an’ plenty ale
Whaur Gadie rins sae free

Oh! Ye was ance a monarch hill
A monarch hill, a monarch hill
Oh! Ye was ance a monarch hill
Ye set freedom’s footsteps free
But noo unless their honours will
Their honours will, their honours will
But noo unless their honours will
We maunna tred on thee

Ah! yes the heather on thy broo
On thy broo, on thy broo
Ah! yes the heather on thy broo
Can bloom nae mair for me
Mang brawlin heaths and the yella whins
The yella whins, the yella whins
Mang brawlin heaths and the yella whins
Doon the boggy lands I go

I wad ne'er come back again,
Come back again, come back again,
I wad ne'er come back again
Fae the fit o' Bennachie.
The lairds the lairds have ta’en you noo
Have ta’en you noo, have ta’en you noo
The lairds the lairds have ta’en you noo
Ye’re nae oor Bennachie

credits

from The Soul of Democracy, released June 24, 2017
Tune by Alan Dickson

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Alan Dickson Glasgow, UK

Scottish singer songwriter Alan Dickson was born in Leith but now based in Glasgow. Alan writes about life in Scotland and beyond, mainly of a personal and political nature.

Descended from a Leith docker, he remarks: "as life mimics art I'm just like my grandfather, only he used a rivet gun and I use a guitar."

Among his influences are Robert Burns, Woody Guthrie, Bob Dylan and Dick Gaughan. ... more

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