John Strachan (1875–1958) was a Scottish farmer and

Traditional singer A traditional singer, also known as a source singer, is someone who has learned folk songs in the oral tradition, usually from older people within their community. From around the beginning of the twentieth century, song collectors such as Cecil ...

of Bothy Ballads including several old and influential versions of the famous

Child Ballads The Child Ballads are 305 traditional ballads from England and Scotland, and their American variants, anthologized by Francis James Child during the second half of the 19th century. Their lyrics and Child's studies of them were published as ''T ...

. He had a huge repertoire of traditional songs, and was recorded by the likes of

James Madison Carpenter James Madison Carpenter, born in 1888 in Blacklands, Mississippi, near Booneville, in Prentiss County, was a Methodist minister and scholar of American and British folklore. He received his Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts degrees from the ...

Alan Lomax Alan Lomax (; January 31, 1915 – July 19, 2002) was an American ethnomusicologist, best known for his numerous field recordings of folk music of the 20th century. He was also a musician himself, as well as a folklorist, archivist, writer, sch ...

and

Hamish Henderson Hamish Scott Henderson (11 November 1919 – 9 March 2002) was a Scottish poet, songwriter, communist, intellectual and soldier. He was a catalyst for the folk revival in Scotland. He was also an accomplished folk song collector and disc ...

Background

John Strachan was born on a farm, Crichie, near St. Katherines in

Aberdeenshire Aberdeenshire ( sco, Aiberdeenshire; gd, Siorrachd Obar Dheathain) is one of the 32 Subdivisions of Scotland#council areas of Scotland, council areas of Scotland. It takes its name from the County of Aberdeen which has substantially differe ...

. His father had made his fortune by trading in horses, and had rented the farm. From 1886 John attended

Robert Gordon's College Robert Gordon's College is a co-educational Independent school (UK) for day pupils in Aberdeen, Scotland. The school caters for pupils from Nursery through to S6. History Robert Gordon, an Aberdeen merchant, made his fortune in 18th century ...

as a boarder in

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

. In 1888 he moved with his father to Craigies in

Tarves Tarves (; gd, Tarbhais), Aberdeenshire, is a small village, situated in the Formartine area of North East Scotland and lies between Oldmeldrum and Methlick. History Much of the village was planned and laid out by the Marquess of Aberdeen in ...

. In 1895 he moved back to Crichie, which became his own farm in 1897. It was still rented, but he bought it in 1918. By 1939 he was successful enough to own five farms. He became president of the

Turriff Turriff () is a town and civil parish in Aberdeenshire in Scotland. It lies on the River Deveron, about above sea level, and has a population of 5,708. In everyday speech it is often referred to by its Scots name ''Turra'', which is derived f ...

Agricultural Association. He died in Crichie.

Tradition Bearer

John Strachan was a " tradition bearer". He was part of the last generation to sing traditional songs in bothies, along with Davie Stewart,

Jimmy MacBeath Jimmy MacBeath (1894–1972) was a Scottish Traveller and Traditional singer of the Bothy Ballads from the north east of Scotland. He was both a mentor and source for fellow singers during the mid 20th century British folk revival. He had a hug ...

and Willie Scott, though he never met them, as far as we know. A dancing master visited the farms. The farm labourers would learn to dance the highland fling and sword dances, at that time performed in hard shoes. John was dismissive of the modern fashion to perform

Highland dancing Highland dance or Highland dancing ( gd, dannsa Gàidhealach) is a style of competitive dancing developed in the Scottish Highlands in the 19th and 20th centuries, in the context of competitions at public events such as the Highland games. It ...

in soft shoes, or "Patent slippers" as he called them. He learned songs from his mother and from the servants on his father's farm. His social status was higher than almost all other recorded singers of ballads. He was refused entry to a fraternity called "The Horseman's Word", intended for farmservants who looked after horses. They claimed to be able to control horses through whispering special words in a horse's ear. In 1930 the American collector

came from Harvard with a wax cylinder recorder. He reached Crichie about midnight. Strachan sang "Dark and Shallow Water" for Carpenter. Strachan had learned the song from Jimmy Smith. Later they both travelled over 50 miles to find him, only to discover that he had forgotten the song. Carpenter was sufficiently impressed by Strachan to invite him to return to the States with him, but he refused. In 1935 a radio program "The Farm Year" was broadcast live from Crichie. Using songs, stories and authentic sound effects such as bagpipes and revving cars, they dramatised farm work. John Strachan and another singer, Willie Kemp, took part. John Mearns sang "

The Bonnie Lass o' Fyvie The Bonnie Lass o' Fyvie (Roud # 545) is a Scottish folk song about a thwarted romance between a soldier and a girl. Like many folk songs, the authorship is unattributed, there is no strict version of the lyrics, and it is often referred to by its ...

" on the broadcast. Fyvie is about 3 miles from Crichie. On 16 July 1951, John Strachan sang the song for

who recorded it using a portable tape recorder. It is the earliest known recording of the song. Some of the recordings made that year were issued commercially on "Folk Songs of Britain" in 1960, but the fullest version was in 2002 on the album ''Songs from Aberdeenshire''. They are fine examples of

Doric dialect (Scotland) Doric, the popular name for Mid Northern Scots or Northeast Scots, refers to the Scots language as spoken in the northeast of Scotland. There is an extensive body of literature, mostly poetry, ballads, and songs, written in Doric. In some liter ...

Repertoire and Legacy

Strachan had an impressive repertoire of songs that had been passed down by word of mouth, probably in this same locality, for over 200 years. These included many of the famous

, such as Binnorie,

Clyde's Water The Mother's Malison or Clyde's Water is Child ballad number 216, Roud 91. Synopsis Willie, against his mother's advice, goes to May Margaret's home, where he is not admitted. He drowns in the Clyde. May Margaret wakes and says she dreamed of ...

Robin Hood and Little John Robin Hood and Little John is Child ballad 125. It is a story in the Robin Hood canon which has survived as, among other forms, a late seventeenth-century English broadside ballad, and is one of several ballads about the medieval folk hero that f ...

, Johnnie O Braidislie, The Beggar Man,

Glenlogie Glenlogie or Bonnie Jeannie o Bethelnie is Child ballad number 238 (Roud The Roud Folk Song Index is a database of around 250,000 references to nearly 25,000 songs collected from oral tradition in the English language from all over the world. ...

The Laird O Drum The Laird o Drum is Child ballad number 236. It is found in six versions, A to F, all based on Alexander Irvine's courtship of and marriage to Margaret Coutts, his second wife. Synopsis The lord of Drum goes to woo a shepherd lass. She does no ...

, Lang Johnnie More,

The Mother's Malison The Mother's Malison or Clyde's Water is Child ballad number 216, Roud 91. Synopsis Willie, against his mother's advice, goes to May Margaret's home, where he is not admitted. He drowns in the Clyde. May Margaret wakes and says she dreamed of ...

, The Farmer's Son, Keech in Creel, Bonnie Baby Livingston, Fair Rosie Ann,

Four Marys "Mary Hamilton", or "The Fower Maries" ("The Four Marys"), is a common name for a well-known sixteenth-century ballad from Scotland based on an apparently fictional incident about a lady-in-waiting to a Queen of Scotland. It is Child Ballad 17 ...

The Bonnie Hoose O Airlie, and

The Knight and the Shepherd's Daughter "The Knight and the Shepherd’s Daughter" is an English ballad, collected by Francis James Child as Child Ballad 110 and listed as number 67 in the Roud Folk Song Index. Synopsis A knight persuades a shepherd's daughter to give him her virgini ...

Steeleye Span Steeleye Span are a British folk rock band formed in 1969 in England by Fairport Convention bass player Ashley Hutchings and established London folk club duo Tim Hart and Maddy Prior. The band were part of the 1970s British folk revival, and we ...

covered his version of

as "The Royal Forester" on their 1972 album ''

Below the Salt ''Below the Salt'' is the fourth studio album by Steeleye Span and their first after they joined the Chrysalis label. The album takes medieval influence and combines it with the band's British folk rock style. The lineup on the album includes ...

.''

Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...

covered Strachan's version of " Peggy O" as "Pretty Peggy-O" on his first album in 1962.

Simon and Garfunkel Simon & Garfunkel were an American folk rock duo consisting of the singer-songwriter Paul Simon and the singer Art Garfunkel. They were one of the best-selling music groups of the 1960s, and their biggest hits—including the electric remix of " ...

recorded it in 1964 on the album '' Wednesday Morning 3AM''.

The Corries The Corries were a Scottish folk group that emerged from the Scottish folk revival of the early 1960s. The group was a trio from their formation until 1966 when founder Bill Smith left the band but Roy Williamson and Ronnie Browne continued ...

recorded it in 1965. On the album, Strachan sings "Lang Johnnie More", 43 verses long, lasting almost 13 minutes, to the tune of "Caul Kail in Aberdeen". Just afterwards, he said "Noo it's too long that". Strachan must have known many bawdy songs but seemed reluctant to sing them. He gave us a fragment of " The Ball of Kirriemuir", also known as "Four and Twenty Virgins Went up to Inverness". At the end he says "It's a terrible een".

Footnotes

*This article derives from the liner notes to "Songs From Aberdeenshire", but the text has been changed considerably. {{DEFAULTSORT:Strachan, John 1875 births 1958 deaths People from Aberdeenshire People educated at Robert Gordon's College Scottish folk singers Scottish farmers 20th-century Scottish male singers 19th-century Scottish male singers