Traditional -1700
Fareweel, ye dungeons dark and strang
Fareweel, fareweel to thee
MacPherson's time will no be lang
On yonder gallows-tree
Chorus:
Sae rantinly, sae wantonly
Sae dantinly gaed he!
He played a tune and he danced a roon
Beneath the gallows-tree!
It was by a woman's treacherous hand
That I was condemned t'dee
She stood upon a window ledge
And a blanket threw over me!
Oh what is Death, but parting breath,
On many a bloody plain
I've seen his face, and in this place,
I scorn him yet again!
The Laird o'Grant, that Highland sant
That first laid hands on me
He played the cause of Peter Broom
To let MacPherson dee
Now some cam here tae see me hanged,
And some tae buy my fiddle
But before I see her in any ither's hand
I'll break her thru the middle
So he took his fiddle in both his hands
And he broke it o'er a stane
Sayin' nae man's hand shall play on thee
When I am deid and gane!
I have lived a life of storm and strife,
I die by treachery.
It burns my heart that I must depart
And no avenged be!
Tak off these bands frae round my hands
And gie tae me my sword
For there's no a man in all Scotland
But I'd brave him at a word!
Reprieve was comin' o'er the Brigg of Banff
T'set MacPherson free
But they put the clock a quarter before
And they hanged him tae the tree!
