I wrote this song, with a tune derived from central European traditions, around about 1970 - many years before the wars in the Balkans. I found it in a folder of teenage jottings.
singer
songwriter
acoustic
folk
british
guitarist
song
celtic
traditional
fingerstyle
scottish
scotland
guitar
kelso
Story behind the song
I had decided to sell my Lowden S35C guitar (small body) and buy another very large body (O size) Lowden again - such is life with guitars. Since this guitar is a very loud strumming guitar, someone suggested I maybe should record something strummed with a pick. Generally, I don't strum unless I'm in a hopelessly noisy crowd singing something very loud. I don't use a pick, either, and prefer nails in a big cluster. So I find this technique - a regular plectrum - a bit clunky and not well practiced.
However, I though, why not! Thinking of what to do, I remembered a song written when I was about 18, and instruments like Hungarian zithers and Romanian hammered dulcimers were popular in folk recordings. I do own a hammered dulcimer, but I can't play it at all. So, it has to suffice with guitar and less of an accelerating pace than originally conceived (think of those Greek dances which get faster). I have added a bit of hand percussion and an instrumental verse on an ethnic wooden whistle, actually made in India, which is almost in tune with the mode and pitch of the song, and in particular, gave a very good C sharp modulation in place of the regular C natural.
The chord sequence is, using Drop D tuning:
(Am and Em for intro/verse lead-ins)
Am Am G Am
C C D A
F C F(C-G-A9) E
Am Am G Am
The guitar is played with twin Behringer C2 mics a foot in front, but turned down to half the volume I normally use. My vocal AKG C2000B also picks up some guitar - loads in fact - and the guitar mics pick up some vocal. It was necessary to sing very close to the C2000B and then turn the track volume down to prevent the crosstalk from the guitar being overwhelming. You can't really tell from the final result, but this Lowden is very difficult to sing over if played hard, and that's one reason I'm selling it. It simply drowns out my singing if I get in the slightest bit enthusiastic in attack. Some reverb has been added to the vocal mic, but zero to the guitar mics (a small amount will be picked up in the crosstalk). Loads of reverb has been added to the overdubbed whistle and percussion, neither of which affect the guitar recording.
Lyrics
When I was young, boy
When I was young
A different song was sung, boy
A different song was sung
It echoed from the mountains
Down into our valleys low
And now it's gone, boy
Where all good songs must go
When I was young, boy
When I was young
A different race was run, boy
A different race was run
We ran across the mountains high
And through our valleys low
But where we'll run now
I'm sure I'll never know
(instrumental verse)
When I was young, boy
When I was young
A different war was fought and
A different war was won
They came down from the mountains
Into our valleys low
But quite who won, boy
I'm sure we'll never know
(First verse repeat)