"McPherson's Farewell", also known as "MacPherson's Farewell", "MacPherson's Lament" or "MacFoset's Farewell" is a Scottish air in F Major (Gow, Neil), G Major (Hardie, Johnson, McGibbon, Skinner), D Major (Lerwick) or A Major (Carlin). The parts are played AB (Skinner), AAB (Johnson), ABCD (Hardie), AABBCCDD (Gow, McGibbon, Neil) or ABCDEF (Lerwick). James MacPherson (1675–1700) was a Scottish outlaw, famed for his lament or rant, a version of which was rewritten by the Scottish poet, Robert Burns. The original version of the lament is alleged to have been written by MacPherson himself in prison on the eve of his execution. Before ultimately being brought to trial, MacPherson was captured several times but always escaped from his enemies. In Aberdeen, his cousin, Donald, and a gypsy named Peter Brown, aided by the populace, rescued him from prison. Shortly afterwards, he was again captured, but was once more rescued, this time by the Laird of Grant. Sir Walter Scott says that MacPherson played this tune under the gallows and after playing the tune, he then offered his fiddle to anyone in his clan who would play it at his wake. When no one came forward to take the fiddle, he broke it – either across his knee or over the executioner's head – and then threw it into the crowd with the remark, "No one else shall play Jamie MacPherson's fiddle". The broken fiddle now lies in the McPherson Clan museum near Newtonmore, Inverness-shire. He then was hanged or, according to some accounts, threw himself from the ladder, to hang by his own will. This took place on November 16, 1700. An American tune with a similar background (but no lyrics) is "The Last of Callahan". I believe I learned it from The Clancy Brothers who sang a shorter anglicized version. It plays easily on dulcimer, banjo and anything else you want to play it on. It was printed in Carlin's Master Collection (1984), Fiddler Magazine, vol. 8, No. 3, (Summer 2001), Gow's Complete Repository, Part 1 (1799), Hardie's Caledonian Companion (1992), Johnson's Kitchen Musician No. 20: A Twenty Year Anniversary Collection (2003), Lerwick's Kilted Fiddler (1985), McGibbon's Collection of Scots Tunes, vol. 3 (1762), Neil's The Scots Fiddle (1991), Oswald's Caledonian Pocket Companion, vol. 10 (1771), Skinner's The Scottish Violinist (1900) and Wright's Compleat Collection of Celebrated Country Dances, vol. 1 (1740). It was recorded by Theodore Bikel on From Bondage to Freedom (1960), The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem on Boys Won't Leave the Girls Alone (1962), Brian Freeman on Songs of Robert Burns (1999), Kingdom Folk Band on Restless (1997), Jimmy MacBeath on World Library of Folk and Primitive Music: Scotland, Vol 3 (1998), Jimmy MacBeath and Davy Stewart on 101 Scottish Songs (1962), Ewan MacColl on Scots Street Songs (1956), Howie Mitchell on Mountain Dulcimer - How to Make It and Play It (1965), Roger Nicholson on Nonesuch for Dulcimer (1972), North Quarry Street Irregulars on North Quarry Street Irregulars (197?), Simmons Family on Ozark Mountain Dulcimer (197?), Davie Stewart on Heather and Glen (1960s), Davie Stewart on Folksongs of Britain and Ireland (1984/1975) and John Strachan on Songs from Aberdeenshire (2002).