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2008-2025
Eric Maclewis
The Massacre Of Glencoe
- The Corries version -
(Jim McLean - © Duart Music 1963)
Cruel is the snow that sweeps Glencoe
And covers the grave O’ Donald
And cruel was the foe that raped Glencoe
And murdered the house o’ MacDonald
They came in the blizzard we offered them heat
A roof for their heads, dry shoes for their feet
We wined them and dined them, they ate all our meat
And they slept in the house of MacDonald
(chorus)
They came from Fort William with murder in mind
The Campbell had orders King William had signed
It all to them saw these words underlined
And leave none alive called MacDonald
(chorus)
This three-part march was composed by Pipe Major Farquhar Beaton of the 48th Highlanders of Canada (previously called 48th Battalion) based in Toronto.
Colonel Robertson was a famous member of this regiment to whom Beaton - who was part of this unit between 1900 and 1913 - dedicated this piece.
The latter has become a standard with Canadian pipers but has logically integrated the Scottish repertoire.
Jim McLean certainly participated in this integration by using this air, slightly reworked and at a slower tempo, to write in 1963 a song entitled The Massacre Of Glencoe (see below the version of The Corries).
Dramatic episode of Scottish history of which the MacDonalds were victims, it took place on February 13, 1692 and its repercussion helped to maintain the Jacobite rebellion until its epilogue (1746).
This same Colonel Robertson has been adapted into a lament entitled Glencoe or The Massacre (or Ballad) Of Glencoe.
In Canada in particular, it is customary to interpret this lament just before the march.
NB: the Scots Guards "Standard Settings of Pipe Music - vol.1 - page 93" in its fifth edition (1965) presents a surprising rhythm error throughout part 3 where the syncopated expression is absent.
They came in the night when the men were asleep
This band o’ Argylles through snow soft and deep
Like murdering foxes among helpless sheep
They slaughtered the house o’ MacDonald
(chorus)
Some died in their beds at the hand of the foe
Some fled in the night, were lost in the snow
Some lived to accuse them for struck the first blow
But gone was the house of MacDonald
Oh cruel is the snow that sweeps Glencoe
And covers the grave O’ Donald
And cruel was the foe that raped Glencoe
And murdered the house of MacDonald
COLONEL ROBERTSON
MARCH
- score by Eric Maclewis with CelticPipes