Destitution Road

In the Year of the Sheep and the Burning Time
They cut our young men in their prime
The old-Scots way was a hanging crime
For the Gaels of Caledonia
There’s a den for the fox, a hedge for the hare
A nest in the tree for the birds of the air
In a’ Scotland there’s no place there
For the Gaels of Caledonia

But there’s no use getting frantic
It’s time to hump your load
Across the wild Atlantic
On the destitution road

The bailiff came with the writ and a’
And the gallant lads of the forty-twa
They drove you out in the sleet and snow
The Gaels of Caledonia
When your house was burned and your crops as well
You stood and wept in the blackened shell
And the winter moor was a living hell
For the Gaels of Caledonia

The plague and the famine they dragged ye doon
As you made your way to Glesga toon
You’d heard of a ship that was sailing soon
For the shores of Nova Scotia
So you sold your gear, you paid your fare
With your head held high though your heart was sair
And you bid farewell for ever mair
To the glens of Caledonia
The land was cleared and the deal was made
Now an English Lord in a tartan plaid
Struts and stares as the memories fade
Of the Gaels of Caledonia
And he hunts the deer in the lonely glen
That once was home to a thousand men
And the wind on the moor sings a sad refrain
For the Gaels of Caledonia