Dougie is Not Happy! But Still Loves to Sing

Well, in general terms I am blessed with a goodly amount of happiness and contentment, joy and love, but in terms of the “state of the nation”, the nation being Australia, I am aghast at what is going on. The values being espoused and the actions perpetrated by our governments seem short-sighted, inequitable and inhumane.

What can I do about this? As a songwriter, I can write songs, and encourage the common people to sing.  To this end, look for “Agitate in April: The Verse of the Day”, on a regular basis on this site.  These are verses from a protest song, “The Nonsense Chorus”, loosely based on the traditional tune, “My Bonnie Lies Over The Ocean”, itself a song of protest song and a lament, relating to the defeat and massacre of Scots, (including McPhersons), at the Battle of Culloden in 1746.  Bonnie Prince Charlie was exiled, (later to perish in France, “sodden with drink and disillusionment”).  Dissent against the dominant paradigm and culture, the rich and powerful was crushed.

One famous MacPherson, Ewan MacPherson, (who, aside from the interchangeable alternate spelling of the family name had the same name as my grandfather), cunningly managed to miss the battle of Culloden, and also fled in exile to France.  More heroically, he, also known as Cluny MacPherson and his clansmen had defeated the British and Hanoverian forces in an earlier battle.  But he may have been a bit of a rascal.  Cluny may have been responsible for making off with Spanish gold, smuggled into the west of Scotland to bank roll the Jacobite rebels.
Encyclopedia Britannica
The Great Scottish Clans

-But I perhaps, digress.

There will also be practice tracks from other tracks, arrangements and original, (or originally arranged), sheet music.

I am richly blessed with having a choir willing to sing some of my arrangements.