Also known as MacPherson's Farwell or Lament

Fareweel, ye dungeons dark and strang
Fareweel, fareweel, said he
MacPherson's time will no' be lang
Alow the gallows tree

It was by a woman's treacherous hand
That I was condemned tae dee
Aboon a ledge at a windae she stood
And a blanket she threw o'er me

Untie these bands frae aff o' my hands
And gie tae me my sword
There's no a man in a' Scotland
But I'll brave him at his word

There's some come here tae see me hang
And some tae buy my fiddle
But afore that I dae part wi' her
I'd brak' her through the middle

He took his fiddle into both of his hands
And he brak' it o'er a stone
Said, Nae ither hands shall play on thee
When I am deid and gane

Ach, little did my mother think
When first she cradled me
That I would turn a roving boy
And die on the gallows tree

The reprieve it was coming o'er the Brig o' Banff
Tae set MacPherson free
But they put the knock tae a quarter past four
And they hanged him tae the tree

Chorus

Sae rantingly, sae wantonly
   Sae dauntingly gaed he
   He played a tune and he danced it aroon'
   Alow the gallows tree

Words by James MacPherson written the night before he was hanged.

James MacPherson, most famous of Scottish outlaws, was the illegitimate son of a Highland laird, MacPherson of Invereshie, and a beautiful tinkler-gypsy girl he met at a wedding. Jamie was brought up in his father's house, and it is related that "he grew up to beauty, strength and stature rarely equalled". He became an expert swordsman, and a renowned fiddler. After the death of his father - Invereshie was killed while attempting to recover cattle stolen by reivers - Jamie was reclaimed by his mother's people, and eventually became the leader of the band. They lived, as their descendants still do, by buying and selling the means of transport (horses then, second-hand cars now), and seem to have been quite popular with the ordinary country folk. However, MacPherson incurred the enmity of the rich lairds and farmers of the low country of Banff and Aberdeenshire, and especially of a brash go-getter Duff of Braco who organized a posse to catch him. At Saint Rufus Fair in Keith he was attacked by Braco's men, and was captured after a fierce fight. (According to the traditional account, a woman dropped a blanket over him from a window, and he was disarmed before he could get free of it.)
It was still at that time a criminal offence merely to be an Egyptian (Gypsy) in Scotland, and it was under this statute that MacPherson was tried in November 1700.

While under sentence of death MacPherson is said to have composed the tune of the Rant, and he is also said to have played it under the gallows, and then to have broken [his fiddle] either across his knee or over the executioner's head. It is universally believed in the North-East that a reprieve was on its way to Banff at the time of the execution, and that the town clock was put forward a quarter of an hour so that MacPherson could be hanged before the reprieve arrived.

Sorry but you need a sound card software to listen

If you are using Netscape to play the tune click on the play button.