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The Deer Stalkers

from This Fleeting Liberty by Alan Dickson

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about

This humorous song was published in 'The Scottish Highlanders and the Land Laws: An Historico-Economical Enquiry' by John Stuart Blackie, in 1885.

In the words of Blackie ...
" .... the following verses struck off by me on the railway a few summers ago, as I rattled across the high ground that separates the domain of the Spey from that of the Tay,may serve as a useful indication to this class of sportsmen, of the feelings which the exclusive prosecution of their favourite recreation is apt to excite in the public mind".

lyrics

COME, all ye jolly deer-stalkers, who hold the Highland hills,
And count your honours by the heads each stout-legged hero kills,
Who gather gold by digging coals, or else by brewing beer,
And scour with me the Highland glens in the season of the year.

Chorus
For we bought the hills with English gold,
And what we bought we’ll keep;
The hills ‘tis clear were meant for deer,
And not for men or sheep.

These scurvy Scots at Bannockburn, they made a sturdy fight,
When our good Edward turned his back to Bruce and Wallace wight;
In savage times the savage steel the land could stoutly hold,
But times are changed, and John Bull now buys Scotland with his gold.
For we bought, &c.

They talk of right and liberty; the bird to fly is free;
But when my rifle brings him down, the bird belongs to me;
For might makes right, and he must quit his own who cannot hold;
All rights must yield to mights, and all the mights must yield to gold!
For we bought, &c.

Then come and scour the hills with me, ye jolly hunters all!
Draw fences round the Bens, and have the keepers at your call;
And, if a rambling lawless loon, ye find approaching near,
Just turn him back upon his track, for he’ll disturb the deer!
For we bought, &c.

And if you find old feckless dames, that make their fingers free
To pluck blaeberries on the hill, or berries aught to be,
Tell them the hills are for the deer, that hold their antlers high,
Not for such yellow-wrinkled hags - were better far to die!
For we bought, &c.

Then come and scour the Bens with me, ye jolly stalkers all,
With lawyers to defend your right, and gillies at your call!
These crofter carles may cross the sea, but we are masters here,
And say to all, both great and small — Let none disturb the deer!

For we bought the Bens with English gold,
And what we bought we’ll keep;
The Bens ‘tis clear were meant for deer,
And not for men or sheep!

credits

from This Fleeting Liberty, released May 9, 2017
Published by Chapman and Hall Limited, London, 1885. Tune composed 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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