MacPherson's Lament
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Summary
The tune of this song is said to have been composed by James MacPherson, the night before his execution on November 1700. Born of an aristocratic father and beautiful gypsy mother, MacPherson was an outlaw of the Robin Hood mould taking only from the rich and acting as the champion of the poor. It is said that he played the tune on his gallows and when none of his clan took up his offer on the fiddle if they would play it at his wake, he broke it and jumped to his death.
