MacPherson's Rant

Original Track ID

SA1953.245.B10

Original Tape ID

SA1953.245

Summary

A spoken fragment of the song 'MacPherson's Rant':

Some come here tae see me hang
And some tae buy ma fiddle
But before I would part wi her
I'll brak it through the middle.

Sae rantinly, sae [gantinly
Sae [?]tirly gaed he,
He played a tune and he danced it roon
Alow the gallows tree.

Item Notes

1 verse and chorus.

The chorus usually begins, "Sae rantinly, sae wantonly, Sae dantinly
gaed he."

This song tells the story of the capture and execution in Banff of
James MacPherson in 1700. Legend has it that he was deliberately hanged a quarter of an hour before the sentence was due to be carried out in order to prevent his imminent reprieve from arriving in time to save him.

See:
Ord pp. 443-445
Greig-Duncan vol. 3, pp. 594-598
'Song Histories' (R. Ford, 1900) pp. 219-226
'101 Scottish Songs' (N. Buchan, 1962) pp. 96-97
'The Scots Musical Museum vol 2' (J. Johnson, R. Burns, 1853 edition)
p. 117

Item Subject/Person

MacPherson, James

Recording Location

Item Location

Language

Scots

Genre

Song

Collection

SoSS

Classification

R2160 GD697

Source Type

Reel to reel

Audio Quality

Good