. . . for yestreen in my sleep.

Behind the mask of reserve, the Scots are a fierce and passionate people, but that aspect of the Scottish soul ends abruptly where hardheaded self-interest begins.  Sean Connery, a fierce and passionate advocate of Scottish independence, did not return to Scotland to campaign for it because returning might have jeopardized his status as a tax exile from his native land.  In other words, it might have cost him money.

That attitude carried the day in the vote for Scottish independence this week.  “I’ve got mine,” Connery said in effect — “Won’t be risking any of it for yours.”

George Washington, by contrast, one of the richest men in North America, risked hanging to lead the fight for American independence.  This spirit no longer exists in Scotland in regards to independence, and the fact is really neither here nor there.  It’s just the way things are up north.

The Scots prefer a fierce and passionate longing for what might have been to risking all for change.  They have long since sent their real rebels, like Patrick Henry (above), to America — we honor them, and wish their yestreen countrymen all the best.  Independence has a price, and we shouldn’t expect everyone to be willing to pay it — should care not what course others may take.

Most Scots didn’t support the rebellion of Bonnie Prince Charlie in 1745, because they thought it was hopeless.  Now they weep when they hear his name.  This leads me to conclude that they will vote no on independence today, then spend the next three hundred years in wistful, melancholy musing over what might have been.

From the first semi-professional recording session of The Quarry Men, featuring John, Paul and George, all still teenagers.  This was the second of the two sides they paid to record in a home-based studio for hire.  It was written by Paul though he gave George co-writing credit because he came up with the guitar break.

John sang lead on both songs.

As teenagers, John, Paul and George, not yet The Beatles, considered this single from 1958 as the first British recording that captured the sound of the American rock and roll artists they worshiped.

It doesn’t quite have the mysterious propulsion and suggestive undertow of the best American stuff, but it’s not bad.

Many things I loved when I was 13 I don’t love as much now that I’m 64.  Some things I loved when I was 13 I love as much now that I’m 64.  Some things I loved when I was 13 I love more now that I’m 64.

The songs on this album fall into the last category.

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Word . . .

I’ve listened to the songs on this album a million times, since I was 14, half a century ago.  They’re still exhilarating, still fun.

I simply can’t express how excited I am about this.

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Awesome.

One of the great albums — though I do say this as the son of a preacher man.

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America, greatest country on earth — proof offered here.

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Forty years ago my friend Cotty Chubb and I, on our way to the Hebrides, were caught in a storm on the Isle Of Skye which grounded the ferries to the distant islands.  We tried to wait it out in a small bed and breakfast on Skye, in whose parlor the proprietress played us The Skye Boat Song on a piano.  She wanted us to understand where we were, what momentous things had once happened on Skye.

Bonnie Prince Charlie, Stuart pretender to the throne of England, had escaped to Skye after the Battle of Colloden in 1746, in which his forces had been decisively defeated by the English, ending forever hopes of supplanting the Hanoverian line of English monarchs with the Stuart, and subordinating Scotland to English rule.

The daring escape became a romantic consolation for the defeat, which continues to rankle the Scottish soul.  Most Scots did not support Charlie’s uprising, considering it hopeless, but in retrospect he became a symbol of Scottish identity.  The longing for what might have been underlies the move for Scottish independence, which will be voted on this Thursday.

The storm on Skye didn’t abate, and Cotty and I gave up on visiting the Hebrides, but The Skye Boat Song stayed with me, as it has stayed with the Scots.  The wistful romance of it may be decisive in the upcoming vote.