12-string Guitar: Banks of Sicily

Banks of Sicily was written by Hamish Henderson in World War II, immediately after the end of a campaign, in Linguaglossa , a small village in Sicily near the volcano Etna. Hamish later said that "Banks o Sicily" was immediately taken up by Scots Troops, becoming in effect an honorary folksong, and when he returned to Scotland in 1946 the song was more well-known than he was! The song was also known by the name, "51st Highland Division's Farewell to Sicily."Hamish had borrowed the melody from "Farewell to the Creeks," by Pipe Major James Robertson, who had written the song about his uncle's farm near the Creeks in Portnockie on the Banffshire coast during World War I.

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[Tyelash]

Glad you saw my remark,believe me I wasn't being critical,I think only Hamish ever recorded HIS SONG with his words.even Dick Gauchin gets it wrong.

It's late tonight but if ye want I'll send you Hamish' version tomorrow.

Cheers,

Yours Aye,

Jimmy.

[threelegsoman]

@Tyelash Thanks, I would like to see them.

[Tyelash]

Its fine,but please learn the words,very few lines are anywhere near those that Hamish wrote.

[threelegsoman]

@Tyelash You may well be right. I picked the lyrics up from the first site I found on Google and they do vary from some of the other versions there are available. It may be that the version I am singing is a translation by someone not too familiar with the Scots dialect. The site did not attribute the lyrics so I know no better.

[gdgest]

5*^ Very well done. :-)

[boeingboeing1]

I remember John Allan singing and playing this

[edward0988]

Well done Hamish, nice delivery.

[rapala55]

I enjoyed it very much..lyrics get changed around with folk songs ..it sounded good to me ...thanks

[Tyelash]

Search for The McCalans version,its as good as it gets,till I figure out how to put up Hamish himself,cheers,Jimmy.