Wilma Paterson and Alasdair Gray’s ‘Songs of Scotland’

Posted on by Dr Karen E McAulay
Front cover of Songs of Scotland by Wilma Paterson and Alasdair Gray, Mainstream Publishing

Published in 1997, this is quite an unusual collection: I can’t think of another Scottish song book illustrated throughout by a famous contemporary artist.  Inside,  the drawings and graphic art are monochrome  – only the cover is in full colour.  This, it must be said, is not quite what Gray initially envisaged; the decision was necessitated by cost, on the part of the publisher.  It’s still a beautiful piece of – well, book art – I imagine it sitting on coffee tables.  It doesn’t sit very easily on a piano music stand, due to its bulk.

Today, as I opened it, the dust-jacket fell back, revealing an equally beautiful embossed cloth cover.  I just had to share it!

Embossed cloth cover; wording says 'Sing as if you live in the early days of a better nation'
Embossed cloth cover; worded:- ‘Sing as if you live in the early days of a better nation’
Endpapers
Endpaper design
Imagine inside dustjacket: book designed and illustrated by Alasdair Gray
Book is designed and illustrated by Alasdair Gray

It’s a very traditional anthology  – you won’t find modern repertoire here.  But it’s  carefully annotated, with a bibliography bearing witness to the amount of research that went into it.

I have looked at contemporary reviews, and other related material – and there’s more I could say about this publication. However, I am keeping this for another day.

If you’d like your own copy, it’s out of print but easy to source second-hand. (Here’s the Abe Books link.)

Songs of Scotland, ed. by Wilma Paterson, designed and illustrated by Alasdair Gray (Edinburgh: Mainstream Publishing, 1997)

Most Memorable Scottish Songs Today (Library Perspective!)

Posted on by Dr Karen E McAulay

Preparing for my Good Morning Scotland interview the other day, as I mentioned, I drew up something halfway between a mind-map and a spreadsheet to clarify in my mind how old the songs were, and who they were associated with. I had also – ever the librarian – looked up which of the Whittaker Library songbooks actually contained the songs in question. I wasn’t looking for every copy we had, just a rough overview. I thought you might be interested to see what our library patrons have access to. 

It is significant that there are only two genuinely old songs – the last two, by Sir Walter Scott and Robert Burns. Otherwise, they’re popular songs that are Scottish, but folksongs? Not exactly traditional or old, but certainly much beloved today. So, will there still be popular songs in fifty years’ time? Yes, of course – but maybe they haven’t even been written yet! 

Here is the list – in order of popularity – that Visit Scotland compiled from their recent survey:-

The Singing Kettle, book 2
  1. You cannae shove yer grannie aff a bus – it’s in Cilla Fisher and Artie Tresize’s second Singing Kettle music book (1989). Also in Ewan McVicar’s One Singer, one Song (1990) and his Scottish Songs for Younger Children (a words-only book, 2002); and in Traditional Folksongs and Ballads of Scotland Vol.3 (1994).
  2. Donald, where’s your Troosers? Sung by Calum Kennedy and published by our friends Mozart Allan in 1959, and by Andy Stewart, published by Kerr’s in 1960. We listened to Andy’s rendition at home last night – and it still makes us laugh.
  3. Coulter’s Candy – (hint: it’s pronounced ‘Cooters’) in Singing Kettle [book 1]; Katherine Campbell and Ewan McVicar’s Traditional Scottish Songs and Music (St Andrews: Leckie & Leckie, 2001); and Ewan McVicar’s Scottish Songs for Younger Children.
  4. Wee Willie Winkie – I know it, and we have it in the library, but not in the version I know!
  5. Skinny Malinky – in Wilma Paterson and Alasdair Gray’s Songs of Scotland (1996)
  6. Three Craws – in the second Singing Kettle book; and Jimmie McGregor’s Singing our Own (1970)
  7. The Jeely Piece Song – the library has Adam McNaughtan’s CD, The Words that I used to know (Greentrax, 2000). It’s also known as The Skyscraper Wean and can be found in Morag Henriksen and Barrie Carson Turner’s Sing Around Scotland (1985).
  8. Bonnie wee Jeannie McColl – first sung by Will Fyffe in 1929, and more recently by the Alexander Brothers, it appears in 100 Great Scottish Songs (Dublin: Soodlum,1986)
  9. An oldie: Walter Scott’s, Scots wha’ ha’e – it’s in many, many collections! I found it in Traditional Folksongs and Ballads of Scotland Vol.3; and Wilma Paterson’s Songs of Scotland.
  10. Another oldie; Robert Burns’s My heart’s in the Highlands. People probably know the version sung by Karine Polwart in 2001, and Fara in 2014. There are much earlier versions in printed books, of course, but I suspect not what today’s enthusiasts are looking for!

This is a YouTube link to Karine Polwart’s, ‘My heart’s in the Highlands.

Wilma Paterson’s Songs of Scotland, illustrated by Alasdair Gray
Traditional Folksongs & Ballads of Scotland Vol.3