Freedom Come-All-Ye

Roch the wind in the clear day’s dawin
Blaws the cloods heelster-gowdie ower the bay
But there’s mair nor a roch wind blawin
Through the great glen o’ the warld the day.
It’s a thocht that will gar oor rottans
A’ they rogues that gang gallus, fresh and gay
Tak the road, and seek ither loanins
For their ill ploys, tae sport and play.
Nae mair will the bonnie callants
Mairch tae war when oor braggarts crousely craw
Nor wee weans frae pit-heid and clachan
Mourn the ships sailing doon the Broomielaw,
Broken faimlies in lands we’ve herriet
Will curse Scotland the Brave nae mair, nae mair;
Back and white, ane til ither mairriet,
Mak the vile barracks o’ their maisters bare.
So come a’ ye at hame wi’ Freedom,
Niver heid whit the hoodies croak for doom.
In your hoose a’ the bairns o’ Adam
Can find breid, barley-bree and painted room.
When Maclean meets wi’s freens in Springburn,
A’ thae roses and geens will turn tae bloom,
And a black lad frae yont Nyanga
Dings the fell gallows o’ the burghers doon.

Notes

Hamish Hen­der­son com­posed the Free­dom Come-All-Ye for CND demon­stra­tors in 1960. It does not speak explic­it­ly against nuclear weapons, but against the mind­set that caus­es our soci­ety to go to war, and to har­bour these weapons of mass destruc­tion. He sees in this song the Scot­land that John Maclean envi­sioned before him, a vision that the Scot­tish Peace covenant car­ries today: a place of free­dom ground­ed in extend­ing the hand of friend­ship rather than wag­ing war.

The tune is an adap­ta­tion of the First World War pipe march The Bloody Fields of Flan­ders, which Hen­der­son first heard played on the Anzio beach­head. The orig­i­nal tune was writ­ten by John McLel­lan, D.C.M. The arrange­ment we sing is based on one by Glas­gow wom­en’s choir, Eurydice. 

Dick Gaugh­an has some use­ful notes on the song, includ­ing an inter­pre­ta­tion of the mean­ing in English.

Files

Slow singalong version

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