Gentle Giants
A Celebration Of The Clydesdale Horse In Song
17 tracks: The Last Trip Home / The Luckenbooth (Battlefield Band) * What’s Waiting For You (Tom Clelland) * Heavy Horses (Robin Laing) * The Last Clydesdales (Jack Beck & Sandy Stanage) * Gone Are The Strong Ones (Christine Kydd) * The Baron O’ Buchlyvie (Ken Campbell) * Champion (Billy Stewart) * Samson’s Dream (Chris Rogers) * Princie and Jean (Tam Reid) * David and Goliath (Robin Laing) * Boxer’s Story (John Malcolm) * Hector and Bessie (Alan Reid & Rob van Sante) * The Ploo’in Match (Jock Duncan) * The Dying Ploughboy (Isla St Clair) * The Last Of Your Line (Dave Gibb) * The Day When The Horses Come Back (Matt Armour) * The Clydesdale Horse (Primary 4 Biggar Primary School).
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Gentle Giants
The Clydesdale Horse - the name tells us where they originated. Clydesdale, the valley of the river Clyde, is essentially the old name for Lanarkshire.
The horse that carries is not necessarily the horse that could pull three times their own weight and at the time when the Clydesdale appeared, the new demand was for a horse that could pull great loads without tiring. The Clydesdale was then seen all around Scotland, in industry and particularly on farms.
For the next 150 years or so, the commonest sight in Scotland would be Clydesdales pulling ploughs and carts, and other machinery, but the introduction of tractors into farming saw the sad decline in the Clydesdale horse. A few enthusiasts keep the breed going but a Clydesdale is a rare sight nowadays.
This CD project was created in partnership with The New Makars Trust, a body that aims to promote songwriting about life in communities in Scotland.
Robin Laing was responsible for the album concept, the collecting of the songs and the commissioning of new ones. Greentrax was invited to release the album and was delighted to do so in 2004. The album has been sold to lovers of the Clydesdale horse and relevant organisations all over the world.
This is a wonderful collection of songs on the subject of the ‘gentle giants’ - Clydesdale horses - sadly no longer part of the rural scene.