Tour Scotland travel video of a lament played on the smallpipes by the group the Odd Alliance playing in St Ninian's Cathedral on visit to Perth, Perthshire. Hector the Hero is a classic lament penned by Scottish composer and fiddler James Scott Skinner in 1903. It was written as a tribute to Major General Hector MacDonald, a distinguished Scottish general around the turn of the century. As it is a lament, it is played slowly and sadly, often using instruments such as the violin, piano, guitar or bagpipes. As it was written in 1903, the lyrics, by Thomas McWilliam, and music to Hector the Hero have passed into the public domain.
Lament him, ye mountains of Ross-shire;
Your tears be the dew and the rain;
Ye forests and straths, let the sobbing winds
Unburden your grief and pain.
Lament him, ye warm-hearted clansmen,
And mourn for a kinsman so true
The pride of the Highlands, the valiant MacDonald
Will never come back to you.
O, wail for the mighty in battle,
Loud lift ye the Coronach strain;
For Hector, the Hero, of deathless fame,
Will never come back again.
Lament him, ye sons of old Scotia,
Ye kinsmen on many a shore;
A patriot-warrior, fearless of foe,
Has fallen to rise no more.
O cherish his triumph and glory
On Omdurman's death-stricken plain,
His glance like the eagle's, his heart like the lion's
His laurels a nation's gain.
O, wail for the mighty in battle,
Loud lift ye the Coronach strain;
For Hector, the Hero, of deathless fame,
Will never come back again.
O rest thee, brave heart, in thy slumber,
Forgotten shall ne'er be thy name;
The love and the mercy of Heaven be thine;
Our love thou must ever claim.
To us thou art Hector the Hero,
The chivalrous, dauntless, and true;
The hills and the glens, and the hearts of a nation,
Re-echo the wail for you.
O, wail for the mighty in battle,
Loud lift ye the Coronach strain;
For Hector, the Hero, of deathless fame,
Will never come back again
All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.
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