A Dance Called America
Bill Potter
home on the train, two of the pieces fell into place.
I have long been a RUNRIG fan or follower or whatever. One of
their songs that I particularly like is the one called
"A dance called America" which is about the forced emmigration
from the Highlands during the time of the clearances. I had
thought the title to be a clever bit of imagery, never
myself thinking that it has a historical background.
Last Friday I came across the following passage.
Three-fifths of the Highland proprietors were now absentee
landlords, and their dispossessed or unwanted tenants were
now dregs in the cup of their good fortune, The spirited
reel which Boswell had watched on the sands of Skye, the
turning whirlpool called AMERICA, had spread westwards to the
blue Hebridees and eastward into the brooding mountains of
the mainland. An abandoned people were either in movement
already or were eager to join the phrenetic dance.
...
... but figures given in a Parliamentary report of 1803 suggest
that at least ten thousand people had gone from the Highlands
and Isles in the previous three years. Upon each turn of the
dance a hand was outstretched for a new partner, and the
letters of the departed exiles called upon their friends
to take ship and join them.
(from Mutiny, John Prebble, Penguin, 1977, pp441-2)
Does anyone have the opporunity to look up the original Boswell
and quote it here?
=============================================================================
Bill Potter : unido!pcsbst!billp : 1992 - 500th Anniv. of a lost
PCS GmbH : bi...@pcsbst.pcs.com : Italian sailor and 200th Anniv.
D8000 Muenchen : You can't sink a RAINBOW : of the year of the sheep.
=============================================================================
Tom Costello
stuff ommitted
|> "A dance called America" which is about the forced emmigration
|> from the Highlands during the time of the clearances. I had
|> thought the title to be a clever bit of imagery, never
|> myself thinking that it has a historical background.
|>
|> Last Friday I came across the following passage.
|>
|> Three-fifths of the Highland proprietors were now absentee
|> landlords, and their dispossessed or unwanted tenants were
|> now dregs in the cup of their good fortune, The spirited
|>
|>
|>
|> ... but figures given in a Parliamentary report of 1803 suggest
|> that at least ten thousand people had gone from the Highlands
|> and Isles in the previous three years. Upon each turn of the
|> dance a hand was outstretched for a new partner, and the
|> letters of the departed exiles called upon their friends
|> to take ship and join them.
|> (from Mutiny, John Prebble, Penguin, 1977, pp441-2)
|>
|>
|> Does anyone have the opporunity to look up the original Boswell
|> and quote it here?
|> =============================================================================
|> Bill Potter : unido!pcsbst!billp : 1992 - 500th Anniv. of a lost
|> PCS GmbH : bi...@pcsbst.pcs.com : Italian sailor and 200th Anniv.
|> D8000 Muenchen : You can't sink a RAINBOW : of the year of the sheep.
|> =============================================================================
I really don't have any idea where this myth of the highland clearances
comes from. The emigration from Scotland at that time was constant
accross crofters and townsfolk. There were in total four "burnings"
reported, at the time the so called clearances were taking place.
Why do some people feel that they have to claim their ancestors
went through great hardship, at the hands of oppressors, when
in fact they didn't
Just wondering,
Tom
Peter David Roberts
I too find this statement interesting but have heard a different
interpretation in the book "Going home: the Runrig story".
In this it states that America was the name of a populardance amongst
the rich English at the time of the clearances and was in some way
satirising. I'm away from home at present but will note more when I get back
Pete
--
* Peter Roberts, JANET p...@uk.ac.aber INTERNET p...@aber.ac.uk. *
* Palynology (Postgrad), U.C.W. Aberystwyth. *
* " I am a climber, I am a thief. Oh Kingdom of Gabbro, *
* Your strong chains won't hold this love" -Runrig *
Chris Cooke
> I really don't have any idea where this myth of the highland clearances
> comes from. The emigration from Scotland at that time was constant
> accross crofters and townsfolk. There were in total four "burnings"
> reported, at the time the so called clearances were taking place.
Do you also think that the Nazi concentration camps were a myth?
--
-- Chris. c...@dcs.ed.ac.uk (on Janet, c...@uk.ac.ed.dcs)
Greg Newman
Their book, released in the UK around Christmas '91, entitled
"Going Home" (by Tom Morton) contains some more insight into the
band, its roots and its story. It also has a complete discography.
I have a favour to ask: Does anyone have the words (and
better still, the music) to "De Ni Mi" from Play Gaelic?
May you all live in interesting times.
Greg Newman MicroSystems Support Officer, School of Biomedical Sciences
___________________________________________________________________________
Organization: University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen AB9 1AS, SCOTLAND U.K.
Internet: p...@aberdeen.ac.uk Voice:+44-224-273009 Fax:+44-224-273019
---
Craig Cockburn
|>From: g...@st-andrews.ac.uk (Greg Newman)
|>Newsgroups: soc.culture.celtic
|>Subject: Speaking of Runrig... (was Re: A Dance Called America)
|>Reply-To: p...@aberdeen.ac.uk
|>
|>
|>Their book, released in the UK around Christmas '91, entitled
|>"Going Home" (by Tom Morton) contains some more insight into the
|>band, its roots and its story. It also has a complete discography.
|>
|>I have a favour to ask: Does anyone have the words (and
|>better still, the music) to "De Ni Mi" from Play Gaelic?
|>
London - it's the theme song from Scotland's most watched language
programme "Can Seo".
You can get the words to this song (and others off play Gaelic) if
you write to the fan club (address on the albums). They don't have
translations though!
De ni mi is a humorous puirt a beul about a man with a Gaelic speaking
horse !
--
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Craig Cockburn, Digital Equipment Co. Ltd, Newbury, England.
ARPAnet: cock...@majors.enet.dec.com Suas leis
UUCP:..!decwrl!majors.enet.dec.com!cockburn a' Gha\idhlig!
Views here are my own, and are not necessarily those of Digital
jode...@gmail.com
it might be a good idea to learn a little more about the Highland Clearances.
The brutality handed out to the Scots was beyond barbaric.
I'm from Inverness, and I can tell you that the Highland Clearances were very real.
There is a fabulous play called 'The Cheviot, The Stag and the Back, Black oil". If you get an opportunity to see it, it will fill in many gaps in your knowledge. Alternately if you ever come to Inverness let me know and I'll give you a tour and fill in the history.
:-)
