Macpherson's Rant Paroles

Sae dauntingly gaed he,
and he sang a tune
and danced around
below the gallows-tree

'Twas by a woman's treacherous hand
I was condemned to die
Beneath a ledge at a window she stood
and a blanket she threw o'er me

Sae rantingly, sae wantonly,
Sae dauntingly gaed he,
and he sang a tune
and danced around
below the gallows-tree

The Laird o' Grant, that hieland sant
that first laid hands on me
He played the cause on Peter Broon
tae let MacPherson free but I'll brave him at a word

There's some come here tae see me hanged
and some to buy my fiddle
But before I do part wi' her
I'll brak her thro' the middle

He took the fiddle in both hands
and he broke it o'er a stone.
Says,”There's nae ither hand shall play on thee
when I am dead and gone.”

Sae rantingly, sae wantonly,
Sae dauntingly gaed he,
and he sang a tune
and danced around
below the gallows-tree

O little did my mother think
when first she cradled me,
That I would turn a rovin' boy
and die on the gallows tree

The reprieve was comin' o'er the brig o' Banf
tae let MacPherson free,
But they set the clock a quarter past four
and hanged him tae the tree

Sae rantingly, sae wantonly,
Sae dauntingly gaed he,
and he sang a tune
and danced around
below the gallows-tree