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Aimed at the (very few) Scots who look backwards rather than forwards and rather fancy themselves in another Jacobite rebellion!

singer songwriter acoustic folk british guitarist song celtic traditional fingerstyle scottish scotland guitar kelso

David Kilpatrick

Solo singer-songwriter and tunesmith playing British fingerstyle steel and nylon string guitar, and historic instruments. Scots and Irish influences.

I've been writing and playing songs and tunes since teenage years in folk clubs and pubs. I co-organise the Kelso Friday night live music sessions at the Cross Keys (hosted singaround 7.45-10pm) and Cobbles Inn (10-12pm open mic with The Cobbles Band) with the help of many friends. All welcome! Visit us at kelsofolkandlive co uk. It is worth clicking on the tab because the sound quality of my tracks is far higher than the auto player on this page. Many can be streamed or downloaded at 320KBps and the enhancement for solo guitar/voice far exceeds the benefit you get for highly compressed band recordings. My recordings are full dynamic, not compressed. Just select Hi-Fi for the first song, and an MP3 high bitrate window will open - you will still get a sequence of songs. Most of my downloads are free, but some 320KBps tracks are paid-for. These are selected because they make up my main instrumental album. I now have a YouTube page and have started doing some video recordings for fun: @daviddkilpatrick I have mainly played Lowden guitars since 1999. I current play a 1985 S5FN (nylon string), 1986 S22 (jumbo O-size mahogany/cedar), and 1995 S32 (small body rosewood/spruce). I also play my own 1997-built Martin 'kit' Grand Auditorium rosewood/spruce, a Sigma OM-T, Furch Little Jane, Tacoma Papoose, Guild 8-string baritone, Vintage V880 parlour guitar and Gordon Giltrap signature model, a Troubadour mahogany/spruce classical and an Adam Black 12-string. And that's just the guitars... also viola, mandolin, mandola, waldzither, bouzouki, Appalachian dulcimer, low D whistle, keyboards.

Song Info

Genre

World • Traditional Celtic

Charts

#332 in subgenre Peak #2

Charts

Peak #45

Author

David Kilpatrick

Rights

David Kilpatrick 2006

Uploaded

January 20, 2014

Track Files

MP3

MP3 4.3 MB • 160 kbps • 3:46

Story behind the song

I had to send two guitars in to be repaired, and fixed up my little Washburn Parlour Guitar to use. But I strung it with mediums, and worried about the strain on it, detuned it. When playing the guitar in the strange tuning which resulted - DF#ADAA - the final phrase of this song, 'Plough the Red Rigs o' Lang Syne' came out and very quickly the lines 'Unfurl your bright banners, unsheath your sharp swords'.

When recording the guitar, I decided to sing through without first writing anything. I don't think is a casual thing to do. It reflects the way a song is written, and for me, this often means just singing without first writing anything down. 

The photos are of Flodden Field, which is a few miles from me. The memorial cross, and one of the interpretation signs. 

'Red rigs' simply means 'red fields' - 'plough the red field of times long past' is the literal translation.

Lyrics

Don't heed the warnings
Don't read the words
Try not to see the signs of the times
Unfurl your bright banners
Unsheath your sharp swords
Plough the red rigs of Auld Lang Syne!

(the verses are made up on the fly and don't make much sense -

The past is in the past you say
And there it must remain
But you remember yesterday
And think the future is the same

(chorus - not sung accurately! Next verse - amended to make it make sense, not very clever in the recording). 

Let old acquaintance not be forget
Though to old allegiances blind
But your auld enemy's all you've got
To remember the passing of time

(Chorus)

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