Dance Land o' Cakes 3685

The land o’ cakes, the land o’ cakes,
  O mony a blessing on it;
Fair fa’ the land o’ hills and lakes,
  The bagpipe and the bonnet.
The country o’ the kilted clans,
  That cowed the Dane and Roman;
Whose sons ha’e still the hearts and han’s,
  To welcome friend and foeman.
    Then swell the sang baith loud an’ lang,
      Till the hills like aspens quiver;
    An’ fill ye up, an’ toast the cup,
      “The land o’ cakes for ever.”

Be scorn’d the Scot within whose heart
  Nae patriot flame is burning;
Wha kent nae pain frae hame to part,
  Nae joy when back returning.
Nae love for him in life shall yearn,
  Nae tears in death deplore him;
He hath nae coronach nor cairn,
  Wha shames the land that bore him.
    Then swell the sang, &c.

Fair flow’r the gowans in our glens,
  The heather on our mountains;
The blue bells deck our wizard dens,
  An’ kiss our sparkling fountains.
On knock an’ knowe, the whin an’ broom,
  An’ on the braes the breckan;
Not even Eden’s flow’rs in bloom
  Could sweeter blossoms reckon.
    Then swell the sang, &c.

When flows our quegh within the glen,
  Within the hall our glasses,
We’ll toast “Auld Scotland’s honest men,”
  Thrice o’er “Her bonnie lasses;”
An’ deep we’ll drink “The Queen an’ kirk,”
  “Our country an’ our freedom;”
Wi’ broad claymore, an’ Highland dirk,
  We’re ready when they need them.
    Then swell the sang, &c.

This song, originally set to the tune “The Black Watch”, was written by John Imlah (1799–1846).

Imlah, youngest of the seven sons of an Aberdeen innkeeper, arranged his life rather neatly. Apprenticed to a pianoforte maker in Aberdeen, he later went to work in London as a piano tuner. So successful was he at his trade that he was able to divide his time between London and Scotland. Six months of each year he worked at tuning pianos in the city and the other six months he spent in Scotland writing verse. His first book of lyrics, May Flowers, was published in 1827 and a second, Poems and Songs, in 1841. Imlah was the author of “Guid Night, An’ Joy be Wi’ You A’”, “The Gathering”, and “Oh! Gin I Were Where Gadie Rins”.