Sleeve Notes:
Think of Hamish Imlach and one automatically thinks of Scotland. Yet Hamish was born in Calcutta
in 1940, brought up in Darjeeling, moved in 1948 to Brisbane, Australia
and came to Scotland only in 1953. Now, however, he is a permanent and
very vital fixture on the Scottish folk scene. He was at school with Ray
and Archie Fisher and Bobby Campbell and made his first record in a group
backing his good friend Josh Macrae. He is one of the most popular figures
on the club circuit in Scotland and has done a considerable amount of
concert, T.V., and cabaret work there. Recently he invaded England and it
is difficult to see how the Sassenachs will resist him.
This album is a good cross-section of Hamish's extensive and varied repertoire.
Johnny
O'Breadislee was a Scottish Robin Hood who got caught while stealing the King's deer.
Men Of Knoydartis a song written by Hamish Henderson who was writing effective
protest songs before Bob Dylan was born. It tells the story of a group of
crofters who made a land raid on to the estate of Lord Brocket. Their
spontaneous outburst fanned the prevailing militancy of all Scots
Nationalists, frustrated by the repeatedly broken pledges' of politicians
to remedy the decay of the
Highlands
The Zoological Gardens was supposedly one of the favourite songs of the late
Brendan Behan. Hamish follows this with a selection of Glasgow
Street Songs and then with
Cod Liver Oil And Orange Juice,
a sad tale of the seduction and downfall of Hairy Mary and one of the most
popular songs in the Scottish Folk clubs. The last song on side one is
The Gaudie which Hamish believes was written by his
great-grandfather. He comments, 'the tune is a Hessian retreat and judging
by the tempo, they must have broken a few world records on the way back'.
Side two begins with
If It Wasn't For The Unions by
Matt McGinn and this is followed by
The Cumbie Boys which deals
with the unofficial supporters clubs of the two leading Glasgow football teams, Rangers and Celtic. For a change of mood,
Hamish turns to
Erin Go Bragh an Irish rebel song and then
switches again to
The Soldier's Prayer, an old service song
overhauled by Stan Kelly. The record ends with two more contrasting
tracks,
Black Is The Colour, a tender, lyrical ballad which
Hamish says he hummed and whistled for years before he finally got round
to learning the words and
Foggy Dew one of the greatest of
all Irish rebel songs.
