The Ballad of John Mclean
Matt McGinn Lyrics


We have lyrics for these tracks by Matt McGinn:


Coorie Doon Coorie doon, coorie doon, coorie doon, my darling Coorie do…
Get Up Get Out With the grindstone to your nose I bought a clock, a…
Go Limp Oh daughter, dear daughter, Take warning from me And dont …
Loch Lomond By yon bonnie banks and by yon bonnie braes Where the…



The Big Glasgow Polis With my handcuffs and my truncheon, my whistle and my…
The Footba' Referee Why did I ever become a footba′ referee? I coulda been…
The Heilan' Man 10 thousand roman sodjers, Tae the heilans they came North, …


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Most interesting comments from YouTube:

@flamencobob

The "straight majority" for the "Tories" was actually for the Scottish Unionists before their formal absorption by the Conservatives. They believed in decentralisation from London, Scottish administration of the Nationalised industries within Scotland, and even toyed with the idea of Home Rule. They went along with the National Health Service and the existing Nationalised industries. In many ways, they were to the left of the current Labour Party - mind you, Macmillan was to the left of the current Labour Party.


I notice you maintain a distinction between the labour and socialist movement - right enough, it's been quite a while since the commitment to socialism was edited out of the Labour Party's manifesto. After decades of corruption and broken promises in Scotland, it's no wonder we turned our backs on the Labour Party - in their insufferable arrogance, they had walked away from us a long time before.


What is left there to unite with that we could believe in? Corbyn's projected minor reforms - and they are minor - ok partly because he has to hold together the factions of a Labour Party united only in mutual hatred?


How much of Tory legislation is he going to repeal? Precious little.


Is he going to get Trident out of Scotland? No!


Why is he all in favour of Independence for any other nation on the planet but not for Scotland?


Shouldn't he be in favour of them showing solidarity with the oppressed workers in whichever country they want to get away from?


Hypocrisy and, let's face it, stupidity. He's not that bright, and he's not the Messiah.


No thanks. I want more, and if Corbyn can't get ahead in the opinion polls even after years of one of the worst governments we've seen for a century, we're not going to get it by uniting with an ineffectual Labour Party that sits on its hands when it's time to oppose the Tories.


At least in an Independent Scotland we'll have far more of a social consensus than we apparently have with the country to the south of us who have facilitated the "normalisation" of the far right, consistently vote in parties (inc. Labour) who are, as I've pointed out, far to the right of Harold Macmillan, and are moving further in that direction on a daily basis.


And, anyway, what did national boundaries ever have to do with support for progressive politics?


We weren't part of South Africa when we opposed apartheid.


We weren't Vietnamese when we opposed that war.


We weren't American when we agitated for Civil Rights.


We weren't Germans or Italians when we opposed Nazism and Fascism.


The International Brigades weren't, by definition, Spanish!


An Independent Scotland has the capacity, and the will, to be an example to the world, and to reach out a hand to other struggles and to the less-fortunate. The UK is showing little sign of that at the moment, and hasn't done so for a long time.



@alanoneill3065

John MacLean 1879-1923
19 June 2013 ·
Krassivy, Krassivy
by Hugh MacDiarmid

Scotland has had few men whose names
Matter- or should matter- to intelligent people,
But of these MacLean, next to Burns, was the greatest
But it should be of him, to every Scotsman and Scotswoman
To the end of time, as it was of Lenin in Russia.
When you might talk to a woman who had been
A young girl in 1917 and find that the name of Stalin lit no fires
But when you asked her if she had seen Lenin
Her eyes lighted up and her reply
Was the Russian word which means
Both beautiful and red.
Lenin, she said, was "krassivy, krassivy".
John MacLean too was krassivy, krassivy
A description no other Scot has ever deserved.



All comments from YouTube:

@auguritutto

My Scottish Glasgow born 1899 father always used to speak very heartily about J M. Very very many thanks for this video opportunity.  

@saorisealba

John MacLean was a Scottish schoolteacher ("Dominie" in Scots) and Marxist educator who was sentenced to two years' imprisonment in 1918 for agitating against the carnage of World War 1. Due to popular outrage and demonstrations, he was released after 7 months but the harsh treatment he received in prison seriously damaged his health and he died a few years later.

@dubskj01

I remember being "lifted" for non-payment of a fine and taken to appear at Glasgow Sheriff Court.
It just so happens that the day before there was a protest taking place in Pollok Park in opposition to the planned route for the M77 motorway through woodlands and an area of natural beauty.
Some of those protesting had been arrested and were being held to appear on the same day as I was to appear for not paying my fine.
One of the protesters was the firebrand and local political activist Tommy Sheridan, who was sharing a cell with me that day.
We spoke at length about the story of John MacLean and the protests in George Square when the Westminster Home Secretary at that time, a certain Winston Churchill sent tanks in to break the protest which John MacLean led and addressed crowds from the front of Glasgow City Chambers.

"Alba gu bràth"

@hamishmaxwell-stewart969

That is quite a story! My first job was in Glasgow. The people that I met made me a socialist for life.

@nacho1560

John McLean, red McLean. The working class has changed since John's time but ffs, we still must keep this man's beliefs in the forefront. Fantastic man.

@tedtheranger

a true leader of the working class people,will we see the likes again

@springbean19

We need more men like him, right now!

@davidmogg281

Spring Bean m

@nacho1560

Amazing to see the crowds who thronged to see him and hear his message. A very caring man who cared for his fellow man very deeply and gave his life for that cause.

@glasgowgrad

I would like to start a campaign to get George Square in Glasgow renamed John MacLean Square. Anybody interested?

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