Today is Robbie Burns Day. To help get you in the mood to celebrate, I'm posting the lyrics to the song from which this blog takes its name: The Old Sod by Spirit of the West. It references Robbie Burns, tartan, t-towels, and various brands of scotch - what could be more Scottish?

Robbie Burns Day should, in my opinion, be elevated to the status of St. Patrick's Day. Who would object to another holiday where drinking is the main focus? Burns was a hero for the people - a simple peasant farmer who wrote from the heart. So move over Chinese New Year and time to get off the late-January holiday mountaintop MLK - make way for Burns! Well, I'm off to the pub for a Famous Grouse neat.

The Old Sod

from the old sod to the new land we came over by the score
we cut the ties said goodbye and closed the old world door
we settled on our praries in your cities and your towns
there's another oatmeal savage every time you turn around

there's none more Scots than the Scots abroad
there's a place in our hearts for the old sod
there's none more Scots than the Scots abroad
there's a place in our hearts for the old sod

we soon found our own kind, formed clubs and social nights
and we practised on each other just to keep our accents right
for there's more tartan here than in all the motherland
we came 5000 miles to the gathering of the clans

there's a bar in the rec room in the basement of our house
a little shrine to Ballantynes haig and famous grouse
there's a sprig of purple heather from the land that once was mine
and Robbie's on the t-towel with the words to Auld Lang Syne

Canada's been good to us we've a living and a home
we've all got central heating and most are on the phone
i'm a citizen of both countries and I'm very proud to be
the thistle and the maple leaf are the emblems of the free

there's none more Scots than the Scots abroad
there's a place in our hearts for the old sod
there's none more Scots than the Scots abroad
there's a place in our hearts for the old sod