Classic pop song. So unlike any other Minds song but a classic none-the-less.

Anacoustic Mind - Don't You (Forget About Me)

Scottish Literature under the influence of Reggae Music. 
Scottish Poet Robert Burns worked for the final ten years of his life on projects to preserve traditional Scottish songs for the future. In all, Burns had a hand in preserving over 300 songs for posterity, the most famous being "Auld Lang Syne". He worked on this project for James Johnson's the Scots Musical Museum (1787-1803) and for George Thomson's five-volume A Select Collection of Original Scottish Airs for the Voice. Burns had intended the work to be published as part of Thomson's selection. However, he wrote to a friend that Thomson and he disagreed on the merits of that type of song. "What to me appears to be the simple and the wild, to him, and I suspect to you likewise, will be looked on as the ludicrous and the absurd."
Instead, Burns gave the song to Scots singer Pietro Urbani who published it in his Scots Songs. In his book, Urbani claimed the words of The Red Red Rose were obligingly given to him by a celebrated Scots poet, who was so struck by them when sung by a country girl that he wrote them down and, not being pleased with the air, begged the author to set them to music in the style of a Scots tune, which he has done accordingly. In other correspondence, Burns referred to it as a "simple old Scots song which I had picked up in the country."
The lyrics of the song are simple but effective. "My luve's like a red, red rose/That's newly sprung in June" describe a love that is both fresh and long lasting. David Daiches in his work describes Burns as "the greatest songwriter Britain has produced" for his work in refurbishing and improving traditional Scots songs including "Red, Red Rose" which he described as a "combination of tenderness and swagger."

My Love Is Like A Red Red Rose.

Who's gonna carry the torch
when the going gets tough?
Are ye gonnae get up,
get up and stand tall?
Will ye carry a torch?

Anacoustic Mind - Carry The Torch

When love has ye transfixed it can sometimes seem lazy.

Anacoustic Mind - Lazy Love

In 1809 George Thomson, an Edinburgh music publisher who had previously collaborated with Robert Burns on "A Select Collection Of Original Scottish Airs For The Voice", commissioned the composer Ludwig Van Beethoven to create settings for many Scottish poems. One of these was a duet called "Farewell Bliss And Farewell Nancy" written by then literary icon Mrs Anne Grant MacVicar of Laggan. The poem lacked a third verse, so Thomson, lacking some respect for the recently deceased Scottish Bard, tacked on a stanza from one of Robert Burns' most beautiful romance poems, "Ae Fond Kiss". However, we are the better for it. In the spirit of research and discovery I have for the first time taken the setting Beethoven composed for "Farewell Bliss..." by Mrs Grant, and instead of her lovely poem I have sung the complete text of Burns' poem "Ae Fond Kiss" in all it's beauty, which goes so well with maestro Beethoven's sublime music; and then infused the whole thing with a reggae rhythm inspired by one of my most influential folk heroes, Mr Bob Marley. This is Ae Fond Kiss (Farewell Bliss...)

Anacoustic Mind (LvB) - Ae Fond Kiss (Farewell Bliss...)

Download and spread. Slung this together this morning at home here in NYC. Let's give Oor Andy Murray some support and encouragement by singing O Andy Murray to the tune of O Flower Of Scotland, because that's what he is right now for Scots fowk all over the world. Good luck son; singalong and spread the refrain.

Anacoustic Mind - O Andy Murray

This track is from the album The Kilmarnock Edition and is available for purchase on CD Baby here: http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/rbmo

A Man's A Man

When I was a kid in my home town of Kilmarnock in Burns Country on the west coast of Scotland we used to listen to a lot of Bob Marley. Get up stand up, stand up for yer rights, was our anthem. And today with that same conviction I still embrace the reggae style as an expression of my inner rebel. This video represents a pictorial trip to old Kilmarnock, the Kilmarnockof my childhood. A town which by the late 60's had evolved into a fine example of architectural grace and balance. The harmony between people, streets and buildings gave a familiar and comfortable rhythm to living there. And it was all made possible by the dedicated hard work and innovation of the people who continued to inhabit and create it. Sadly, with the decline of western industry the need to redevelop overtook the need to preserve and many of the treasured locales and edifices were torn down or "converted" for other use. In many cases done piece-meal with no consideration or consultation of the towns-people, the hard workers and innovators who had contributed so much to their creation. These old photos from around that time recall to mind familiar faces and places that have changed, beyond recognition in many cases, of old Kilmarnock as it was. They represent a small fraction of personal sharing, intimate and treasured memories that have been posted to the internet by friends of the FB Group, Kilmarnock When You Were A Kid. The musical backing was written and performed by Anacoustic Mind aka A Lad From Killie. Just a wee slide show to show yer pals what it was like when we were kids in Kilmarnock. The goal now is to contribute and help to raise awareness and encourage participation in the preservation and restoration of what is left of old Kilmarnock.

Kilmarnock When U Were A Kid (Come On Kilmarnock)

Man Was Made To Mourn

Much more than just "A New Year's Song" Auld Lang Syne, the original "popular" version playfully disguised in a reggae/celt groove and some sampled voices. Still mashin it up with the classic "Give Peace A Chance" mantra which I love so much. The rest of the story is posted on the other versions. I also tell the story on a YouTube video I will link to. Have fun and a hope yeez enjoiy.
lyrics
Peace For Auld Lang Syne 

Should auld acquaintance be forgot, 
And never brought to mind? 
Should auld acquaintance be forgot, 
And days o' auld lang syne. 

For auld lang syne, my dear, 
For auld lang syne, 
We'll tak a cup o' kindness yet, 
For auld lang syne, 

All we are saying, is give peace a chance 
Let bygones be bygones 
All we are saying, is give peace a chance 
For auld lang syne. 

And there's a hand, my trusty fiere! 
And gie's a hand o' thine! 
And we'll tak a right guid willy waught, 
For auld lang syne. 

Chorus. 
For auld lang syne, my dear, 
For auld lang syne, 
We'll tak a cup o' kindness yet, 
For auld lang syne, 

All we are saying, is give peace a chance 
Let bygones be bygones 
All we are saying, is give peace a chance 
For auld lang syne. 

Chorus. 
For auld lang syne, my dear, 
For auld lang syne, 
We'll tak a cup o' kindness yet, 
For auld lang syne,
credits
released 08 February 2013 
Mike Ogletree aka Anacoustic Mind = All

P.A.L.S. My Dear

SCOTTISH REGGAE MUSIC FOUND HERE. 
Anacoustic Mind is the creation of musician and drummer Mike Ogletree, a Scottish Singer/Songwriter and former member of the bands Simple Minds and Fiction Factory. Inspired by the life and work of two Roberts: Scotland’s 18th century Bard - Robert Burns and the Jamaican activist/musician Robert (Bob) Marley, Mike, among other things, arranges and performs classic Scottish sangs with a Jamaican beat in a style he calls Scottish Reggae Music.

“I live in New York, which is the planet’s cultural melting pot, and it's a wonderful environment and opportunity to get into the joyous task of arranging and performing Scottish Reggae Music. I'm in a very vibrant part of the city where I have had no choice but to surrender body, mind and soul to the rhythms of the street-life that surround me. It is these experiences, these sounds, these sights, these smells and this energy which fuel the grooves and moves of Scottish Reggae, a sound which is literally coming alive in the streets of New York’s LES. When I busk on the corner of 1st Ave and 9th and see people sing and dance along to 18th Century Poetry it brings the joy of knowing that both of the Roberts' missions and legacies live on.”

Sung chiefly in the Scots Dialect with a Marley beat makes Scottish Reggae a not-to-miss mash-up. Currently laying low in and around New York, busking and hitting the open-mic and pub/bar scene, something groovy is growing in Mike’s Anacoustic Mind, sangs an' soons he hopes will have us all Scottish reggae-rocking in no time.

The Blaxcotsman

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