A son '5 a, i i song or a that
Burnsong, the festival that challenged a new generation of songwriters to pen tunes for the nation, has just finished in Dumfries. In response, a celebrated poet, lecturer and trivia obsessive takes a look at some candidates for a new Scottish anthem.
ie national anthem debate is with us once more
and I‘m trying to decide whether I want to beat
my hairy Haggistani chest. hold a tartan Zippo alol‘t. or cry a tear for my auld Maw. Which card should we play — trumpet blowing (like Vanuatu's unlikely 'We We Wei). still~ lip against adversity (‘llkraine Has Not Died Yeti). or perhaps pie—eyed honesty (the (‘zechs‘ 'Where ls My Home." l'.’
But not deference to our rulers: ‘May (ilory (‘rown You. (‘ourageous Sovereign'. the Nepalese sing. through gritted teeth. I imagine. (‘an‘t think that ‘liirst Minister. We Shall lior Thee lindeavour‘ would rise sweetly in many thrapples. Yet. ‘(iod Save the Queen’ (complete with its sixth verse poke in ottr ribs) is the official number one and still among the f‘rontrunners.
And what are the others'.’ arious shades of mince. ‘Scotland the Brave’. a dentist‘s drill of‘ a tune. complete with petticoat tail lyrics (though ‘Now feel the blood a-leaping’ is apt for a country with blood pressure problems); ‘llighland (‘athedralfi a saccharine pipe tune written by a pair of Germans: ‘(‘aledonia‘. the anthem of the maudlin Mac ex—pat. And ‘lilower of Scotland’. ‘the people‘s f’avourite‘. our military history retracted through the awful prism of The White Heather ( 71(1).
The latest wrangling is in response to a (ireen MSP proposing Robert Burns~ ‘A Man's a Man For A‘ That‘ as an official anthem. Not a bad choice. It gets my tick- in-the-box. Mind you. it might not get the female vote. How about a quick rewrite as ‘A Person's a Person‘s For A‘ That"? And while we are at it. let‘s change that A' to All. seeing as many of us are not Scots speakers.
Apparently out of the running this time is Hamish Henderson‘s 'l‘reedom (‘ome All Ye’. which was the locus of' previous campaigns: a rousing number with line lyrics. albeit ones which hardly appeal to all political tastes. with its Red (‘lydesiders and solidarity with struggles in Africa. This is why we should welcome Parliament‘s involvement. For me. if an official stamp is going to be pill on one tune. party politics should rule out 'l’lower of Scotland. too. l can just about forgive its clumsy syntax (‘land that is lost now which those so dearly held‘). but its mawkish backward stare. and its failure to engage with the country‘s true history that our battles were never as versus them -- should see it banished to Murrayfield.
The recent competition for the excellent Burnsong project proves that there is plenty of songwriting ‘in the spirit ol‘ Burns‘ and contemporary songwriting is certainly going through a tartan patch. Should we consider a bespoke song for Scotland? Why am I picturing a l{urtwision-style Search for the Anthem.’ show. with Lulu in a mini-kilt seeing ol'l' Marti l’ellow‘s paean to the glens of~ (‘lydebanki’
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SHOULD WE CONSIDER A BESPOKE, BRAND NEW SONG FOR SCOTLAND?
Yet we have songwriters who could rise to the occasion. not least Jackie Leven. who has written some of the loveliest. and the toughest. songs about our country in recent decades. Then there are Alasdair
Roberts and James Malcolm of ()ld Blind Dogs. both of
whom bring new twists to our rich ethnomusicological tradition. And the ‘first family of‘ Scottish song’. the Andersons of St Andrews and their extended l‘ence Collective. could surely whip tip a heartbreaker suitable for the ()lympic podium.
Maybe our poets should take on the job of celebrating our land in song. What would I do. in the event of‘ a commission'.’ Well. I was chewing over possible lyrical content — no chest beating. no haggis. no shonie and all I could come up with was ‘The deer. the deer!‘ Kathleen Jamie or WN Herbert might bring something off. perhaps with a backing track from James MacMillan. But the rugby crowd would continue to covet their ‘wee bit hill and glen'.
ll‘ you have ever watched as the camera pans along a pack ol‘ greased-up sportsmen mumbling to their nation‘s anthem. you‘ll know that the average chap doesn‘t choose to remember the words to songs. There is one way to choose an anthem all will remember. and that is to select an instrumental piece. It does for Spain. whose ‘l.a Marcha Real‘ is felt to be stirring enough without mention of‘ paella or ‘The bulls. the bulls!‘
So what will happen? The .S'mtsmun‘s rugby-loving readers will send ‘lilower . . .‘ to the top of the poll. Parliament will decide not to meddle in the people's business. The other contenders will be found on Best Senttish Anthems . . . liver.’ to be enjoyed by nationalists along with a large dram. and a wee tear or two.
Roddy Lumsden’s latest books are Mischief Night: New 8: Selected Poems (Bloodaxe) and Vitamin G - a temple of trivia lists and curious words (Chambers).
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