Flower of Scotland (Scottish Gaelic: Flùr na h-Alba, Scots: Flouer o Scotland) is a Scottish song, used frequently at special occasions and sporting events. Although Scotland has no official national anthem, Flower of Scotland is one of a number of songs which unofficially fulfil this role, along with the older Scots Wha Hae, Scotland the Brave and Highland Cathedral. It was written by Roy Williamson of the folk group The Corries, and presented in 1967, and refers to the victory of the Scots, led by Robert the Bruce, over England’s Edward II at the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314.
Popular use
The song has been used by the Scotland national rugby union team, ever since the winger, Billy Steele, encouraged his team-mates to sing it on the victorious Lions tour of South Africa in 1974.[2] The song was adopted as the pre-game anthem during the 1990 Five Nations championship (the forerunner of the Six Nations Championship) which culminated in the deciding match between Scotland and England, which Scotland won 13-7 to win the Grand Slam.The Scottish Football Association adopted “Flower of Scotland” as its pre-game anthem in 1997 although it was first used by them in 1993,[citation needed]. Usually only the first and third verses are sung. The song will also be used to as the victory anthem of Scotland at the Commonwealth Games in 2010 replacing Scotland the Brave.
The tune was originally composed on the Northumbrian smallpipes,[citation needed] which play in D and have the benefit of keys on the chanter to achieve a greater range of notes.
Ewan McGregor performed the song in Magadan in 2004 for the filming of the TV show Long Way Round journey.
In July 2006, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra conducted an online poll (publicised by Reporting Scotland) in which voters could choose a national anthem from one of five candidates. 10,000 people took part in the poll in which Flower of Scotland came out the winner. The results were as follows:
- Tune Votes (%)
Scottish folk metal band Alestorm have performed a cover of it live and recorded it, which is on their album Captain Morgan’s Revenge. In addition, the Canadian Scottish-influenced Celtic Punk band The Real McKenzies have included the song on the album “Loch’d & Loaded” as well a staple in their live performance among many other traditional Scottish ballads.
"Flower of Scotland"
Ronnie Browne talks about The Flower of Scotland
A few words from Ronnie Browne.
Taken from http://www.corries.com/news.php
Photo of Ronnie wearing the Corrie tartan kilt.
The Corries are undoubtedly most famous for having written the song “Flower of Scotland”. The song was written by Roy in the mid sixties. Its first showing to the public was in a BBC Corries filmed television series, recorded in 1967 in black and white with Roy playing the bouzouki and myself the borhan, in front of Ruthven barracks in the north of Scotland. We gave it a somewhat archaic treatment, perhaps to make a new song sound a bit more ancient. The arrangement underwent a few changes during the following years. The Corries large concert audiences seeming to take it like a duck to water.
In 1974, Billy Steele, the then Scottish rugby international winger and in that year member of the British Lions, took the song with him on their famous, victorious tour of South Africa. It would appear that he had persuaded people like Gordon “Broon fae Troon” Brown to sing it with him and they, and the other Scots in the party were joined, perhaps surprisingly, by their Irish, Welsh and even English team mates. Upon their return they were voted the BBC Television Team of The Year and sang “Flower of Scotland” on national television as their team song.
There was a request from the Scottish rugby international squad, through the Scottish Rugby Union at the start of the 1990 international season, for the song to be sung as the unofficial anthem at the start of the games of the 5 nations tournament of that year. In the first game against the French it proved very popular and successful.Scotland went on to win that momentous 1990 Grand Slam. Roy, a fervent rugby man himself, lived long enough to experience intense pride before he finally died in August 1990, from the ravages of cancer brought on from a malignant brain tumour.
Since Roy’s death, I have continued to sing on my own and I have had the honour to lead the fans in the singing of the anthem all over the world. The sports of rugby, boxing, and curling have been using it to herald their endeavours. On August 31st 1996, I sang it for the first time officially for the Scottish Football Association in Vienna before Scotland’s world cup qualifying match against Austria. Judging by the way the fans sang it at Hampden and Wembley versus England in 1999, I am certain the song is here to stay. I designed the Corries’ tartan to mark the 40th anniversary of the writing of our national song “Flower of Scotland” Well done Roy Williamson.
Ronnie Browne.
