MacPherson's Lament: A Song History
"MacPherson's Lament" takes its name from James MacPherson, a freebooter of north-east Scotland who was hanged at Banff in November 1700; the sources consulted here differ on the day, giving either the 7th or the 16th.[1][2][3] Tradition says he composed the tune himself and played it on his fiddle before his execution, but the Traditional Tune Archive cites a 1983 study by Alburger that found "no contemporary evidence that the outlaw was a fiddler, much less a composer."[1]
Joseph Lionel Williams after R. Carrick, The Wounded Cateran, from Illustrated London News, wood engraving, May 13, 1848. Highland raiders, shown for the freebooter of the song; it has no connection to MacPherson.
Whoever made it, the melody was in circulation early: the Traditional Tune Archive traces it to the Margaret Sinkler manuscript of 1710 and to London publications of 1732 and 1740 under titles such as "Mac Foset's Farewell," and on through Scottish collections by McGibbon, Oswald, Gow and J. Scott Skinner.[1] Robert Burns reworked an older ballad on MacPherson into "MacPherson's Farewell," published in 1788 in the second volume of James Johnson's Scots Musical Museum, and later singers have often used the Lament, Farewell and Rant titles for related texts on the same tune.[2][3] Ed Miller, in a note quoted by Mainly Norfolk, describes Burns turning a warning against theft into the portrait of a rebel.[3]
J. Scott Skinner recorded the tune as an instrumental in 1910, Jimmy McBeath and John Strachan were recorded singing it in 1951, and the Clancy Brothers with Tommy Makem, the Battlefield Band and Old Blind Dogs are among the many later performers.[3] The University of Aberdeen's Elphinstone Institute includes it in its Muckle Sangs resources, giving the tune as Jimmy McBeath sang it.[4] Dana Gruber's Deja-New, a Fingers Of Steel book of classic and traditional songs given "a new twist" for mountain dulcimer with optional guitar chords, includes "MacPherson's Lament" alongside a separate piece, "MacFarlane's Lament."[5]
Sources
- The Traditional Tune Archive: "MacPherson's Lament".
- The Traditional Ballad Index: "MacPherson's Lament".
- Mainly Norfolk: "MacPherson's Farewell / MacPherson's Lament / MacPherson's Rant".
- University of Aberdeen, Elphinstone Institute: "Macpherson's Rant".
- Fingers Of Steel: "Dana Gruber, Deja-New".
- Image: Joseph Lionel Williams after R. Carrick, The Wounded Cateran, from Illustrated London News, wood engraving, May 13, 1848. The Metropolitan Museum of Art.