MAC GREGORS LAMENT IN SONG
(Click on the titles below to view
the sheet music and the verses)
This song was written by Robert Tannahill (1774-1810), a Paisley weaver and poet, who used anold air, The Three Carls O'Buchanan. Balquhidder was part of the Clan Gregor lands near Loch Lomond. Rob Roy's grave lies in the churchyard there.
Patrick Roy MacGregor , also known as Gillie Roy or Gilderoy, the red-haired lad, was of the same clan as Rob Roy, (the Glen Gyle line of MacGregors). As were all MacGegors who refused to uses aliases, he was forced into a life of outlawry. He, along with several of his followers, were hung at Edinburgh in June 1636. But Patrick was a great favourite of the ladies and this song is said tobe written by one who was smitten by him.
Griogal Cridhe (Beloved Gregor)
Gregor MacGregor was the husband of the daughter
of Campbell of Glen Lyon. Gregor was betrayed by the Campbells in 1570, and
subsequently beheaded. This lament was composed by his widow.
This song was written by a MacGregor of
Glen Endrick, who was jailed, along with a friend, in Carlisle, England in
1746. The author had been condemned to death for his support of Bonnie Prince
Charlie in the 1745 uprising, while his friend was being set free.
The song tells the old Celtic myth that the soul of a Scot who dies outside his
homeland will find its way back to Scotland by the Spiritual road, or the low road; so he
tells his friend "You take the high road and I'll take the low road ... and I'll
be in Scotland afore ye."
The words of this song were written in 1816 by Sir Walter Scott, for "Albyn's Anthology ". The song was adapted to a very old tune said to be used by the MacGregors when they were "gathering" for battle . The song alludes to the severe treatment the clan received, to their lawlessness and to the proscriptions of their name.
This lament was originally composed in Gaelic afterthe clearance of the clan from its territories around Loch Katrine and Glen Gyle. It was written in English by D. M. Moir in 1850.
MacGriogair O Ruadh-shruth (MacGregoro' Ruaru)
The original author of this song is unknown, however the translation into English was made by an Islay poet, Thomas Pattison. The tune appears in Alexander Campbell's collection (1816). The song is a lament written following the death of a MacGregor of Glen Lyon.
Rob Roy (frae the Highlands cam)
This song was written around 1754 about Robin Oig MacGregor, youngest son of Rob Roy MacGregor. The ballad tells the tale of when Robin came down to the lowlands to find a wife. He kidnapped a young lass and carried her to his home in the Highlands. The lady was not willing and. although this method of obtaining a wife was quite common in Scotland in those times, and Lowlanders who committed these acts were routinely let off, Robin was eventually captured and hung for the abduction.
This song was written by an unknown author, as the finale to the opera Rob Roy. It was written to the tune ofDuncan Gray. The words for Duncan Gray were written, to this old melodyby Robert Burns in 1792.
Glen Fruin (Glenn a Bhroin or Valley of Sorrow),
near Loch Lomond, was the sight of a "desperate engagement" between the
MacGregors and Colquhouns, in 1602. It is said that two MacGregors
were passing through Colquhoun lands, where they were denied shelter and
refreshment. They fed themselves on a sheep they took from an adjoining field, and
then offered to pay for the sheep. Instead of accepting any payment, the Colquhouns condemned and hung the two MacGregors.
This incident escalated into a feud eventually resulting in the battle at Glen Fruin
where, although outnumbered, the MacGregors routed and mercilessly slaughtered the
Colquhouns. This rout resulted in the Royal Enactment of
Proscription against the MacGregors by King James VI.
The poem was written by Forbes MacGregor
. The "piobaireachd", also titled The Rout of Glen Fruin
, is an old tune that appears in the earliest major collection of bagpipe music to
be published (1821). A piobaireachd is a piece, played on the
bagpipes, which is a series of stylized variations on a theme.
