Flatlands with lyrics – Zomerfolk

Flatlands with lyrics – Zomerfolk

The lyrics to this song are written by our own William for the album Scotland’s Story, we performed it for the first time at our Celtic Folk Night in Wilhemshaven. At the end of all our theatre shows we play this song to get the polonaise going, David & Maceal march through the concert hall and all the audience follows.

Background Info – Flatlands

Scotland the Brave is the bagpipe tune David plays during Flatlands, it is a Scottish patriotic song, one of several often considered an unofficial Scottish national anthem. The tune was first played probably in the late 19th century. The lyrics commonly used now were written about 1950 by Scottish journalist Cliff Hanley for singer Robert Wilson as part of an arrangement by Marion McClurg. “Scotland the Brave” is also the authorised pipe band march of the British Columbia Dragoons of the Canadian Armed Forces

Lyrics “Flatlands”

Good evening lads and lassies, are you happy all the way

We’re coming from the Flatlands, so some people say

We try our very best to make you allright tonight

We’re playing lovely folk songs and some tunes half the night

 

I was born to be a singer, but I didn’t knew by then

I had my first guitar when I reached the age of ten

My fingers were not bleeding, but I really tried out hard

So come on move your dancing feet, when the music starts

 

So there’s no other place, where I would rather be

To sing about this fucking life in peace and harmony

So won’t you come along and drink a pint or two with me

To sing about this fucking life in peace and harmony

 

I was lots of times in trouble, in my days at school

Just learning ‘n turning by the way and living by the ruule

We were waiting ’till the bell would ring and we’d go home, on straight

And picking up our instruments, “it’s getting really late”

 

I like to dance with women and I sang it all before

I drink a lot of whiskey and I drop dead on the floor

And when the cab is driving home and I remember when

The places where I’m going and the places that I’ve been

 

The night is coming to an end, but there’ll be plenty more to come

The crowd is going wild and they’ve been asking for “encore”

We don’t know where we’re going and whenever we’re coming back

I’ll see you all the next time, on the latest track

Flatlands played at zomerfolk with lyrics and background info
Flatlands played at zomerfolk with lyrics and background info

Scotland’s Story is available on CD and Vinyl

Support us at https://rapalje.com/stream

Help David support the cultural sector: https://rapalje.com/donation

Shop for beautiful Rapalje products: https://rapalje.com/shop/

Come and see us in person: https://rapalje.com/agenda/

See the streams at https://www.facebook.com/rapalje

We livestream every tuesday at 20:00 CET, check our agenda for other shows and streams

Loch Lomond – Zomerfolk

Loch Lomond

The torches come out and you know what time it is, we get to play Loch Lomond! Always a great sing-a-long and we love the reaction from the crowd everytime, this version shows Loch Lomond at our own Rapalje Zomerfolk Festival played on saturday after dark.

Background Info – Loch Lomond

Several stories surround this song, David Myles looked into the history and was able to find the facts to tell our story about the song. “The Bonnie Banks o ‘Loch Lomond”, or “Loch Lomond” for short, is a well-known traditional Scottish song first published in 1841 in Vocal Melodies of Scotland. The track prominently features Loch Lomond, Scotland’s largest lake, located between the counties of West Dunbartonshire, Stirling and Argyll and Bute. In Scottish, “bonnie” means “beautiful”, often in reference to a lady.

Loch Lomond is anything but a sweet Scottish song of love, written by a Jacobite highlander at the time of the Jacobite Rebellion.

The last serious battle of the war between Scotland and England took place on the field of Culloden. Now known as “the Battle of Culloden” The Jacobite Rebellion was an important time in Scotland; this ended at the battle of Culloden in 1746.

History

The Jacobites were created when the Roman Catholic King James II was dethroned from the English throne. By the Protestant Dutch stadtholder William III of Orange, who was married to a daughter of James II, Maria Stuart. The Jacobites were part of the political movement that aimed to restore the Roman Catholic Stuart King James II of England and his heirs to the thrones of England, Scotland and Ireland.

A superior English army defeated the weary and hungry Jacobite army on April 15, 1746, chasing and crushing the Jacobites without mercy. The Battle of Culloden was the last major battle on British soil.

The Privy Council in London had decided that prisoners of the uprising in Scotland should be tried in England. The Jacobite prisoners were transported to Tilbury Fort for trial. Many were found guilty and executed in the most vile ways possible, prisoners were sold, bartered, deported, died of disease and some were pardoned.

Once the execution was completed, to set an example to anyone who would walk out of line. The bodies and especially the heads on the tops of spikes were put on display in all the cities between London and Glasgow in a monstrous procession. The loved ones and families who watched the trial had to walk back to Scotland along the same route.

The low road and the high road

“The Low Road” is the normal road on Earth and “The High Road” is the road in the sky you take when you’re dead.

Farewell to the Creeks

It is an old pipe tune called “Farewell to the Creeks”.The tune was written by a Pipe Major J.B. Robinson from the Gordon’s who was captured at Le Cateau in August 1914 as the German Army swept into France. “Creeks” referred to in the tune are at Portknockie on the Mory Firth in Scotland. In 1943 a text was written on the melody by Hamish Henderson: Farewell Ye Banks O’Sicily

We play it with our torches and the bagpipes, after Loch Lomond we play “Farewell to the Creeks”.  It’s in “The Scottish Guards.” It’s also a traditional Scottish tune.

Lyrics – Loch Lomond

By yon bonnie banks and by yon bonnie braes
Where the sun shines bright on Loch Lomond
Where me and my true love were ever wont to gae
On the bonnie, bonnie banks o’ Loch Lomond

Chorus:
O ye’ll tak’ the high road and I’ll tak’ the low road
And I’ll be in Scotland afore ye
But me and my true love will never meet again
On the bonnie, bonnie banks o’ Loch Lomond

‘t Was there that we parted in yon shady glen

On the steep, steep side o’ Ben Lomond
Where in deep purple hue, the hieland hills we view
And the moon comin’ out in the gloamin’

Chorus

The wee birdies sing and the wild flowers spring
And in sunshine the waters are sleeping
But the broken heart, it kens nae second spring again
Tho’ the waefu’ may cease from their greeting

 

Buy this album now