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When First I Came to Caledonia

from This Ill Deeds by Calum McIlroy

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about

I hadn't heard of Tony Cuffe until I started Scots song lessons with Fiona Hunter in my third year at the RCS. On her recommendation, I listened to his album "When First I Went to Caledonia" and I was bowled over by every track. He was everything I aimed to be in a musician: he was a phenomenal guitarist, a great singer, and he approached song-accompaniment in such an intricate but simple way.

The title track of Cuffe's album tells the story of a man who goes to Nova Scotia with his brother to work as a miner in the "Caledonia coal mines". He ends up falling in love with a woman he sees at the harbour but feels unworthy of her and decides to drown his sorrows in brandy instead.

lyrics

When First I Came to Caledonia - traditional

When first I came to Caledonia
I got loading at number three
I got boarding at Donald Norman's
He had a daughter could make good tea

And it was me and my brother Charlie
The biggest shavers you e'er did see
We're spearing eels in the month of April
And starving slaves out on Scaterie

I ga'ed tae Norman's for a pair of brochan
A pound of soap and a cake of tea
But Norman said that I may not have them
'Til fish got plenty on Scaterie

So I went over to their big harbour
Just on purpose for to see the spray
I spied a maiden from Boulandrie over
She looked to me like the Queen of May

Noo if I had pen from Pennsylvania
And I had paper of the purest white
If I had ink of the rosy morning
A true love note unto you I'd write

And I wish that I was on the deepest ocean
As far from land as once I could be
Sailing over the deepest water
A woman's love would never trouble me

And I lay my head to a cask of brandy
And it's a dandy I do declare
'Cause when I'm drinking, I'm seldom thinking
How to gain that young lady fair

credits

from This Ill Deeds, released October 30, 2020
Arranged by C.R. McIlroy

Calum McIlroy - voice, guitars, mandolin
Anna Garvin - keyboard

Recorded and mixed by Graham Rorie at Rumley Sounds
www.grahamrorie.com

Mastered by Chris Waite
www.masteredbychriswaite.com

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Calum McIlroy Scotland, UK

BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician 2024

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