Tak a dram afore ye go

Ian and Margie Sinclair live around Thurso, in the extreme North of Scotland, and when I last saw them, were running a small folk club there. Margie's one of the best ballad singers I've heard, and at the end of a good evening (wherein a surprising variety of music was made there) she'd sing this song that Ian made. I learned it from her as did Bob Zentz, and we both seem to have Americanized it, so I'll put her a version closer to the one Margie sings, with any apologies due for the folk process. (GB)

Well the night has passed so quickly, and our time is almost done

For the fiddle and the piper, the singer and the song

The time has come for us to leave you; one more song afore we go

The button up and aye be cheerie, and tak a dram afore ye go

Chorus:

Sae button up and aye be cheerie, and tak a dram afore ye go

Oh this night we will remember, for the music's been just fine

But the cold grey land o' Caithness can be cruel and unkind

Sae we must bid farewell and leave you, travel through the ice and snow

So goodnight and God go with you, and watch over you until

We can a' meet here together, and our glasses we will fill

We will drink a toast tae absent friends, let the beer and singing flow

Tak a Dram afore Ye Go is recorded on the album Language of the Heart