There have been several
songs written about the
massacre at Glencoe.
The most modern and the most well known has been called in different recordings "
The Massacre of Glencoe," "
The Ballad of Glencoe," and variations. The refrain is:
Cruel is the snow that sweeps Glencoe
and covers the leaves of Autumn
And cruel was the foe that raped Glencoe
and slaughtered the house of MacDonald
The lyrics are all over the
Web, but although they are often attributed simply to "
Traditional," they are in fact copyright by
Jim Mclean, in 1963, and the rights owned by
Duart Music, now. The melody and lyrics are very similar to "
Blow the Wind Southerly," a melody by
W. G. Whittaker with lyrics by
John Stobbs, but that melody in turn is arranged from the traditional jig "
Kinloch of Kinloch." In any case, Jim Mclean proved to a court's satisfaction that his song was original and does hold the copyright, no matter to whom it's attributed (I've seen many different credits, from "Traditional" to "Anonymous" to "Alistair Macdonald" (?)).
Nigel Denver first recorded it (Decca SKL 5014, '
Borderline') but it's been recorded many, many times over. It's a very
poignant melody, with striking lyrics.