Suck A Parcel O Rogues In Our Nation sung by Alastair McDonald This currently seems a far more Fitting National Anthem for Scotland than flower of Scotland. m.youtube/watch?sns=fb&v=jVAAQimVBeg Lyrics: Fareweel to a our Scottish fame, Fareweel our ancient glory; Fareweel evn to the Scottish name, Sae famd in martial story. Now Sark rins over Solway sands, An Tweed rins to the ocean, To mark where Englands province stands- Such a parcel of rogues in a nation! What force or guile could not subdue, Thro many warlike ages, Is wrought now by a coward few, For hireling traitors wages. The English steel we could disdain, Secure in valours station; But English gold has been our bane - Such a parcel of rogues in a nation! O would, ere I had seen the day That Treason thus could sell us, My auld grey head had lien in clay, Wi Bruce and loyal Wallace! But pith and power, till my last hour, Ill mak this declaration; Were bought and sold for English gold- Such a parcel of rogues in a nation! History of the Song: Such a Parcel of Rogues in a Nation is a Scottish folk song whose lyrics are taken from an eponymous Robert Burns poem of 1791. It derides those members of the Parliament of Scotland who signed the Act of Union with England in 1707, comparing their treachery to the country with the tradition of martial valor and resistance commonly associated with such historic figures as Robert the Bruce and William Wallace. It has continued to be associated with Scottish nationalism and also been referenced in other situations where politicians actions have gone against popular opinion. The lyrics obliquely reference a colonization project that became known as the Darien Scheme, an unsuccessful attempt by the Kingdom of Scotland to become a world trading nation by establishing a colony called Caledonia on the Isthmus of Panama on the Gulf of Darién in the late 1690s. As the Darien company was backed by about a quarter of the money circulating in Scotland, its failure left the nobles and landowners—who had suffered a run of bad harvests—almost completely ruined and was an important factor in weakening their resistance to the Act of Union. Although the scheme failed, it has been seen as marking the beginning of the countrys transformation into a modern nation oriented toward business.
Posted on: Sat, 20 Sep 2014 12:22:22 +0000
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