What's the spring breathing jasmine and rose?
What's the summer XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
What's the splendour of autumn, to those
who barter their freedom for gain?
CHORUS: Let the love of our land's sacred rites
to the love of our people succeed.
Let friendship and honour unite
and flourish on both sides the Tweed.
No virtue the senses can cheer
which corruption and bribery find
No sweetness the sun can e'er clear
For honour's XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
(CHORUS)
Let virtue distinguish the brave.
Place riches in lowest degree.
Think them poorest who can be a slave,
and richest who dare to be free.
Gaughan's Song Archive
Both Sides The Tweed
Both Sides The Tweed
( Words trad, amended by Dick Gaughan / Music : Dick Gaughan )
What's the spring-breathing jasmine and rose ?
What's the summer with all its gay train
Or the splendour of autumn to those
Who've bartered their freedom for gain?
Let the love of our land's sacred rights
To the love of our people succeed
Let friendship and honour unite
And flourish on both sides the Tweed.
No sweetness the senses can cheer
Which corruption and bribery bind
No brightness that gloom can e'er clear
For honour's the sum of the mind
Let virtue distinguish the brave
Place riches in lowest degree
Think them poorest who can be a slave
Them richest who dare to be free
ŠTopic Records Music 1981
[INLINE] NOTE :
This was written in 1979 shortly after the Scots returned a majority
in favour of a separate Scottish Parliament but the vote was vetoed
in the UK Parliament due to the actions of some Members from the
North of England.
There is an intentional irony in the fact that the original text
was an attack upon the Treaty of Union of 1707 which abolished
the independent Scots and English Parliaments and set up the
United Kingdom.
The verses call for the recognition of Scotland's right to sovereignty
and the choruses argue against prejudice between our peoples.
The Tweed is the river which forms part of the Scots-English border
and is used here as a symbol of both the need for independence and
the need for friendship and co-existance.
[INLINE] Handful of Earth (1981)
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ŠDick Gaughan - last updated 24 August 1996
_________________________________________________________________
>CHORUS: Let the love of our land's sacred rites
>to the love of our people succeed.
i've always understood this to be '...land's sacred
rights...' (Dick Gaughan 'Handful of Earth')
Andrew
Andrew Davis
University of Leeds, Yorkshire
England, LS2 9JT UK
a.j....@uk.ac.leeds