"Hector the Hero" is a classic lament penned by Scottish composer and fiddler

James Scott Skinner James Scott Skinner (5 August 1843 – 17 March 1927) was a Scottish dancing master, violinist, fiddler and composer. He is considered to be one of the most influential fiddlers in Scottish traditional music, and was known as "the Strathspey Kin ...

in 1903. It was written as a tribute to Major-General

Hector MacDonald Major-General Sir Hector Archibald MacDonald, ( gd, Eachann Gilleasbaig MacDhòmhnaill; 4 March 1853 – 25 March 1903), also known as Fighting Mac, was a Scottish soldier. The son of a crofter, MacDonald left school before he was 15, enl ...

, a distinguished Scottish general around the turn of the century. MacDonald, a friend of Skinner's, had not long before committed suicide following accusations of having sexual relations with teenage boys. As it is a lament, it is played slowly and sadly, often using instruments such as the

violin The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

bagpipes Bagpipes are a woodwind instrument using enclosed reeds fed from a constant reservoir of air in the form of a bag. The Great Highland bagpipes are well known, but people have played bagpipes for centuries throughout large parts of Europe, No ...

. It has been covered by many artists since its release, and is still reasonably well known today. As it was written in 1903, the lyrics, by Thomas McWilliam, and music to "Hector the Hero" have passed into the public domain.

Lyrics

: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.

External links

Skinner's original score, at University of Aberdeen

video of the song

References

Scottish folk songs 1903 songs LGBT-related songs {{LGBT-stub