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The Mains o Rhynie

Date May 1954
Track ID 30136
Part 1

Track Information

Original Track ID

SA1954.33.B7

Original Tape ID

SA1954.033.redone

Summary

The singer of this ballad meets 'Lang Jock Scott' who asks if he is willing to join the S. R. A. [Scottish Republican Army].

Item Notes

6 verses and choruses of 4 lines. Sung to the tune of 'The Barnyards o Delgaty'.

At the instigation of a student named Bobby Watt, this song was compiled and reworked by Hamish Henderson from verses that Watt and friends had begun modelling on 'The Barnyards o Delgaty' as sung by Jimmy MacBeath. Henderson's 'Mains o Rhynie' was a substitute for 'Fettes Row', the location of the party where Watt (the 'Lang Jock Scott' of the song) approached Henderson to write the song. The S. R. A. mentioned in the song is the 'Scottish Republican Army', an underground organisation increasingly active in the post-WWII years; the S. R. A. was a powerful concept for committed nationalists at the time. Bobby Watt was later put on trial along with four other men, accused of conspiracy to overthrow the government of Scotland. All four were convicted of lesser charges pertaining to possession of explosives, and were sent to Saughton Prison.

See:
'Hamish Henderson: A Biography. Volume 1 - The Making of the Poet' (T. Neat, 2007) pp. 316-317

Recording Location

County - Midlothian

Parish - Edinburgh

Village/Place - Edinburgh

Language

Scots

Genre

Song

Collection

SoSS

Source Type

Reel to reel

Audio Quality

Fair