trad
Jim Malcolm: “Dick Gaughan found the words for this song in the Jacobite Relics of Scotland by James Hogg, and wrote this wonderful tune last time Scotland had the chance to vote for independence, in the 1970s. It was originally a comment on the Act of Union in 1707, and calls for mutual respect on both sides of the River Tweed, which in parts constitutes the Scotland-England border.”
Dick Gaughan: DICK GAUGHAN Both Sides The Tweed, with Aly Bain and Phil Cunningham
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pkCiSQjkDo
What’s the spring-breathing jasmine and rose? What’s the summer with all its gay train Or the splendour of autumn to those Who’ve bartered their freedom for gain? Chorus: Let the love of our land’s sacred rights To the love of our people succeed; Let friendship and honour unite And flourish on both sides the Tweed. No sweetness the senses can cheer Which corruption and bribery bind; No brightness that gloom can e’er clear, For honour’s the sun of the mind. Let virtue distinguish the brave, Place riches in lowest degree; Think them poorest who can be a slave, Them richest who dare to be free.