One number which doesn't always feature is his 1977 UK Christmas number one "Mull of Kintyre". While hugely successful in his homeland, it was never released as a single in the US, reduced to the status of B-side to "Girls School". Yet, it managed to do very well elsewhere. To this day it pops up typically during encores of shows in Australia, New Zealand and Canada. Something tells me the people of these Commonwealth countries appreciate "Mull of Kintyre" more than Macca's British fans. In a very disdainful review, Tom Ewing states that "Mull" "evokes nothing more than standard Highlands postcard imagery". I can't disagree but that's also why it's so endearing to many. The same goes for the appeal of Andy Stewart, a Scots performer who seemed to be far more popular in the old dominions than he ever was back in the UK — at least until his unexpected resurgence at the end of 1989.
Andy Stewart is as Scottish as a tin of shortbread decorated in tartan with photos of Loch Lomond and Ben Nevis. Not realistically Scottish but one that tracks with mental images of bagpipes. kilts, whisky and pretending to like Robbie Burns' poetry. One can even go to Scotland and still come away with the same idyllic impression of the fabled country despite the fact that much of it isn't like that. I spent a week there with my family in the autumn of 1988 and I experienced several things that clash with those "postcard" images. Bizarre food? Not really. Gruff people? More a mix of polite, rude and indifferent, just like everywhere else. Bad weather? Not for the entire time we were there. People in kilts and tam o' shanters? Almost no one. (I initially assumed that 1996's Trainspotting was set in seedy Glasgow rather than in the regal beauty of the Scottish capital until Hibernian FC posters and mention of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival set me straight. It was quite a shock)
The point is, Scotland manages to hang on to its stereotypes better than most other parts of the world. In part, this is down to citizens of the old colonies clinging to roots of a country many haven't even been to (or have left and have no desire to ever go back). Being ultra-Scottish almost necessitates being a foreigner. (Apologies for bringing up Trainspotting again, but when Ewan McGregor's Mark "Rents" Renton goes on a memorable rant about how it's "shite being Scottish", this was news to most of us around the world with Caledonian ancestry) This helps explain why Andy Stewart's "A Scottish Soldier" managed to go all the way to number one in those same countries where McCartney — along with various local bagpipe associations in what must be the most memorable gigs any of them ever played in — still performs "Mull of Kintyre". (In Britain, it had sufficient legs to spend the better part of a year moving around the Top 40 but it could only peak at a modest number nineteen)
"A Scottish Soldier" is an old song that goes back to the Crimean War, its tune "borrowed" from a nineteenth century Rossini opera. The narrative about an anonymous warrior bravely fighting only to give his life is surprisingly stirring considering all the potential for self-parody that could have tanked it. Yet, it's still not the kind of thing I ever need to hear again. Stewart sounds about as good as possible — we'll get an idea of how bad he could be very, very soon — but it's not enough for me to enjoy him. I have gotten somewhat used to it over the last several days but my enthusiasm for it is still low.
One thing worth noting about Stewart's lyrics is his brave move not to put the Scottish soldier's death in the Middle East or in the trenches of the Somme or some other ghastly place. I mean, to take your last breath amidst the beauty of the Austrian Alps can't be the worst way to go, can it? But it's not good enough since his wish is to be in those Highland hills. (I guess he wasn't a lowlander, huh?) Too bad for him that a war hasn't been fought on Scottish soil since the Jacobites. Then again, listeners in Canada, Australia and New Zealand could identify: they, too, wanted nothing more than to return to the pacific pure air of Scotland — even if, deep down, they had no desire to go back.
Score: 4
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