Song of the Gillie More
Track Information
Original Track ID
SA1967.146.B2
Original Tape ID
Summary
A song conveying a message of fraternity between Leith blacksmiths and their Soviet counterparts and, more generally in spirit, between working men and women of all trades.
Discussion of how the contributor learned the song.
Item Notes
Recorded at Blairgowrie Folk Festival, 1967. Sung to a slightly modified version of the original tune. Composed in 1948 by Hamish Henderson (1919-2002).
During the 'Scottish-Soviet Friendship Week' in 1951, Jimmy Jarvie, secretary of the Leith branch of the Associated Blacksmiths' Forge and Smithy Workers' Society, sent greetings from "The Blacksmiths of Leith to the Blacksmiths of Kiev". Hamish Henderson went to meet Jarvie and was inspired to write 'The Song of the Gillie More'. The aforementioned society published his song in 1953 as a song-sheet, and later as a hardback song-sheet in 1962 to commemorate the visit by the Kiev Trades Council to their Edinburgh counterpart in 1962.
See:
'Herd Laddie o the Glen' (A. McMorland, 1988, 2006) p. 143
'Collected Poems and Songs' (H. Henderson, ed. R. J. Ross, 2000)
Recording Location
County - Perthshire
Parish - Blairgowrie
Village/Place - Blairgowrie
Language
Scots
Genre
Collection
Source Type
Reel to reel
Audio Quality
Fair