SING A SANG AT LEAST - SUPERINTENDENT BARRATT

SUPERINTENDENT BARRATT
Thurso Berwick
(Tune : Barbara Allan)

O, Sherlock Holmes is deid lang syne

    In some forgotten garret,

But aa o' youse hae heard the news

    O' Superintendent Barratt.

He cam' up here in Janiveer,

    The day it was a Monday;

He crossed the Border deep in snaw -

    And wished ti Hell he hadnae!

For aa he got whin he cam' North

    Wis 'Here! an' 'There' as 'Yonder!'

He fleed aboot in a high-speed caur,

    But his clues wad only daunder.

"Four days o' frosts, ah want nae mair,"

    He tellt the Scottish polis,

"Ye kin keep your Stane, an' the yins thit taen't!"

    And aff he gaed hame, clueless.

O, Sherlock Holmes is deid lang syne

    In some forgotten garret,

But that's guid luck, for Holmes wad boke

    To hear the name o' Barratt.

Footnote : On Christmas Day 1950, four Glasgow students retrieved The Stone of Destiny from London's Westminster Abbey and after 650 years in England (pinched by Edward I of England) brought it home and gladdened the heart of every leal Scot.Sadly, one of the four, Gavin Vernon died in Canada, aged 77, in April 2004. In tribute to his memory and achievement of his colleagues - Ian Hamilton. Kay Matheson and Alan Stuart - we print one of the many songs inspired by the Stone's homecoming. Written by Maurice Blythman (Thurso Berwick) it was published in 'Sangs o' the Stane' by the Scottish National Congress.