Poetry Meme

[f4f3]

There seems to be a meme doing the rounds which tells you to post a bit of poetry that means something to you. What a good idea...

No Gods And Precious Few Heroes

* (Brian McNeill)


I was listening to the news the other day
I heard a fat politician who had the cheek to say
He was proud to be Scottish, by the way
With the glories of our past to remember
Here's tae us, wha's like us, listen to the cry
No surrender to the truth, and here's the reason why
The pride and the glory's just another bloody lie
They use to keep us all in line

So to hell with the heather and the glen
They cleared us off once, and they'll do it all again
'Cause they still prefer sheep to thinking men
Ah but men that think like sheep are even better
There's nothing much to choose between the old laird and the new
They still don't give a damn for the likes of me and you
Just mind you pay your rent to the factor when it's due
And mind your bloody manners when you pay

And tell me, will we never hear the end
Of poor bloody Charlie and Culloden yet again
Though he ran like a rabbit doon the glen
Leaving better folk than him to be butchered
Or are you sitting in your council house, thinking o' your clan
Waiting for the Jacobites to come and free the land
Try going doon the broo wi' a claymore in your hand
And count all the princes in the queue

So don't talk to me of Scotland the Brave
'Cause if we don't fight soon there'll be nothing left to save
Or would you rather stand and watch them dig your grave
While you wait for the Tartan Messiah
He'll lead us to the Promised Land wi' laughter in his eye
We'll all live off the oil and the whisky, by and by
Free heavy beer, pie suppers in the sky
Will we never hae the sense to learn

Ah, there's no gods and there's precious few heroes
But there's plenty on the dole in the land o' the leal
And I'm damn sure that there's plenty live in fear
Of the day we stand together with our shoulders to the wheel

Ay, there's no gods!

• [1995:] No Gods and Precious Few Heroes, written over a decade ago one sleepless night in the shadow of a roaring European blast furnace, is my answer to all the ridiculous, over-romanticised baggage of Scottish history. It's two hundred and fifty years since Bonnie Prince Charlie minced over the horizon of our national consciousness and handed us those tartan-tinted specs, and we're still using them to look at every aspect of our past. Precious few heroes, right enough, and he's not one of them. If he'd won, what would have been different for us? Would the dole queues have been shorter? Believe it if you like ... (Notes Brian McNeill, 'No Gods')

Comments

[happybat.livejournal.com]

Are you familiar with Michael Marra's Mincing wi Chairlhi? I rather like it

Trews made of tartan, tight to the skin
With feather of eagle my bonnet was trimm'd
And my hair tied with ribbon
Powdered and pinned
When I was mincing wi' Chairlhi

Shiny our silver and sweeping our plaids
Silken our hose burned with green and with yellow
That bled with the red on the ill chosen ground
When I was mincing wi' Chairlhi

Shiny our silver but cloudy our brains
Golden our stories through drink sodden haze
Where our fellow man died, we strode with pride
When I was mincing wi' Chairlhi

Lord what am I that I should be spared
Till a' the drinks drunk dry

[f4f3.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure I do - the "mincing" line in McNeill's notes grated on me. It's a remnant of a time (only 20 years ago) where homophobia was casual, and casually accepted for the most part in the folk scene.

But the other sentiments - about the lords selling out the commoners... Aye, that I can relate to.

[f4f3.livejournal.com]

I should qualify that, actually - I'm talking about the West of Scotland folk scene, and back to the time the song was writen (mid-80s). I really don't know how things were elsewhere.

[happybat.livejournal.com]

Hmm - I missed that and now can totally see it. It doesn't stop me liking the song, but does interest me that I focussed on the class thing - the silver and powder and ribbons, the miniature oil paintings - to avoid seeing what I wouldn't like? Or possibly it's context - according to an old teacher of mine, Charlie has more songs written about him in europe than anyone bar Jesus Christ.

Gender thing maybe? When I think homosexuality I think lesbianism first and foremost. Or possibly that's disingenuous - the association with mincing and gayness might not spring foremost to MY mind, but it's not subtle or rare.

Bah. I remember hearing my own (my own real) English teacher on the radio, talking about Charlie, and this song had such impact because it was critical, because it didn't pine after him. Rather tarnished the memory...

[happybat.livejournal.com]

Actually, it DOES stop me liking the song.

[f4f3.livejournal.com]

Sorry! I feel like I've killed the song for you. The first time I was aware of the idea that Charlie might have been homosexual (and I don't know if he was - it could have been propaganda for all I know) was a brief and very coy comment from Billy Connolly, of all people, in the mid-70s. Connolly might have been better disposed than most folkies to the gay community, because of all the slagging he took over his long hair.

[happybat.livejournal.com]

To be honest, I wasn't aware that he might have been homosexual at all - I (rather naively) took the whole thing as a dig against his French fashions...

And don't worry about killing the song - much rather have stuff pointed out than not! Learning doesn't have to be nice to be valuable.