Archie Fisher is a great Scots singer, renowned for his wonderful guitar stylings and gentle vocal performances. A few years back he was touring on Vancouver Island. He sang a favourite song, one of those amazing homesick ballads telling of the way things were “back hame.” Much to his surprise, this gentle tune, very well performed, was met with “boos” from his Island audience!!! Now I know us Islanders are forthright—but that seemed a bit much. The song was The Broom o’ the Cowdenknowes and, as Archie found out, it touched an Island nerve.
You can hear Archie’s great version at: https://youtu.be/lcJg6mYxw88
The story goes way back to when us white folk were colonizing this neck of the woods. While it remains a bit uncertain how it happened, it turns out that some seeds for the Scottish plant Cytisis scoparius made their way onto the Island. This shrub, it turned out, had no enemies on Vancouver Island shores and soon began to run rampant all over the Islands. It was especially fond of newly disturbed land, of which there was quite a bit back then. Its seeds can last up to 30 years! Soon the plant, which we know unaffectionatley as “Scotch Broom,” was appearing all over the place, forcing out some of the local flora. It became one of the most aggressive “invasives” to reach our shores. And certainly anyone with wet knees and a sore back from pulling broom has little love for this plant (e.g., https://tinyurl.com/2chephap ). Most folks I talk to say the name “Scotch broom” with a curl of the lip that makes it clear that there is no love for this plant from away—despite its handsome yellow blooms.
So Archie walked into the middle of it. His gentle song extolling the nostalgic virtues of the Broom o’ the Cowdenknowes meant something quite different to Island horticulturalists. He quickly found that it would be best to eliminate this song from his repertoire while performing in the area.
Rather than banish the song into oblivion on the Island, I thought it might be a good idea to rewrite the lyrics. It’d be a shame to see such a beautiful tune go to waste.