Track 1.
Seal Song written
by Gus about the ancient legend from the Islands of Scotland about child drownings.
It was believed if a child went missing never
to be found again, then they had been taken by sea creatures.
They believed these creatures were once human
but were now turned into seals that one day returned to the place of their birth in human form to either mate or to have children.
After this they would then return to the sea
with their young and become seals again.
Often a Mother would be seen walking the shores
for months or years calling out to the seals off shore for her young child to return.
Rambling Rover
Typical Scottish song about whisky and women!
up tempo happy song that gets everyone smiling
and dancing,
It is then finished of with two tunes by Bob
and Neil the first one "Hunt the whisky" is all about finding a hidden bottle of whisky! shame on some people!
The second tune "The happy drunk"
is all about what happens after you find the bottle of whisky hic! hic!-("why is it that everything else is moving and I am
perfectly still"?) or "why does the floor keep hitting me"!!
Abbo Kintay
Written by Bob about African rivers that are
allowed to dry up or die through lack of investment or pollution. Unfortunately when this happens people who live in one place
for generations have to move away never seeing friends and family again.
Fairies Waterfall
David wrote this and for this one you have
to imagine you are back in the times of William Wallace. You are with someone you love very much and there is an old and great
custom in Scotland for lovers to go to secret places.
In this private place beside a hidden waterfall
with a large water pool below it, lovers would spend the day swimming and all that-you know!.
When they were there, if the Fairies liked
them they would be heard singing and playing happy romantic songs on their harps and pipes.
No matter how loud or long you heard the Fairies
you could never see them in the long grass or ferns.
Kate's dilemma
About a beautiful Danish woman who was
sorely troubled with a decision over something important.
The Long road
Most of you will probably remember the tune
of this song as "Those were the days " by Mary Hopkins.
Truth is, it was originally a Russian Gypsy
song from a long time ago. We sing it in Russian the way we learned it from our Russian friends in "Grenada Folk Ensemble"
and it is about a broken love.
Green grow the rashes o' is one of the most
romantic songs Robert Burns ever wrote. It is all about lovers spending time by the riverside and what they get up to hidden
in the rushes (rashes o').
When Neil and Bob were playing up in Dunvegan
one fine summer day, Neil composed this fine tune "Sunset over Dunvegan", aided by that fine Medicinal
compound called Guinness. Rumor has it that Bob forced himself to drink the Guinness too as a means of moral support for his
suffering comrade.
Stand up all of you who remember that cracking
film "The last of the Mohicans" with Daniel Day Lewis! . This is the theme tune
from the film and written by a great modern day Scottish songwriter "Dougie McLean". The tune is called "The
Gael" and Bob had originally started to learn this on the Low whistles but when Farquar McDonald played on fiddle
when he toured Holland with us we knew it had to be fiddle on lead. On our own arrangement Gus is backed up with keyboards,
percussion, bass and bob on whistle. A tremendous hit this version with the audience!.
My Lovely Rose is
a very sad song about being thousands of miles away from your loved one. In this song written by Bob it's the man who is very
sad and everywhere he goes during the day reminds him of his lover.
Some women have the same eyes, some the same
smile and eventually, sadly he longs for night time when he can escape his pain with sleep.
Then he does what men are supposed to not do!
he cries tears for his loved one in the secrecy of his pillow and the shield of darkness.