Farewell ye life ye sunshine bright
Ye dungeons dark and strang
Mc Pherson’s time will not be long
Below these gallows I’ll hang
Some of you came to see me die
And some to buy my fiddle
But before that I do part from here
I’ll break her down the middle
Then he took his fiddle in both hands
And he smashed her over a stone
He said there’s not another man than me
Will play thee when I’m gone
Rantingly, so rantingly, so wantonly went he
He played a tune then he danced aroon’
Below the gallows tree
Untie these bands from off my hands
And give to me my sword
For there’s not a man in all Scotland
But I’ll brave him at his word
The reprieve was coming o’er the brig of Banff
For to set Mc Pherson free
When they put the clock a quarter before
And hanged him to the tree
Rantingly, so rantingly, so wantonly went he
He played a tune then he danced aroon’
Below the gallows tree
Farewell ye life ye sunshine bright
And all beneath the skies
For in this place I’m ready to
Mc Pherson’s time to die.
Rantingly, so rantingly, so wantonly went he
He played a tune then he danced aroon’
Below the gallows tree
Traditional, arranged Ray Cooper
The Story Of The Song
This is an old hanging ballad, said to be based on a true story. James McPherson was a notorious Scottish bandit who managed to escape justice on many occasions. However, one day in the year 1700 he was seen carrying a sword in the market place in Elgin, a capital offence. Like many career criminals (even today) he had friends in high places, but this time, even his friend Lord Elgin was obliged to condemn him to death since there were so many witnesses.
The song is a famous one in Scotland since it expresses not just his courage in facing death, but by inference, his defiance of authority. While on the scaffold, waiting for the clock to strike midday, McPherson sang a song, danced a jig and played his fiddle to the huge crowd, before smashing the fiddle so that no-one else could play it. However, as the song suggests, he may have been playing for time and hoping that there would be a last minute reprieve. The townspeople suspected that too, so when a rider was seen coming over the bridge, one of them climbed up the clock tower and moved the hand of the clock forward a quarter of an hour to twelve. And Jamie McPherson became a song.
This song is from my first solo ’Tales of Love War and Death by Hanging‘.
