Peak
69
Weeks
6
Score
286
Chart Year
1961
"A Scottish Soldier" was Andy Stewart's follow up to his novelty song "Donald Where's Your Troosers?" In a TV interview, Stewart said the idea came to him in a public house; he wrote two verses and sang it the next day. It was inspiration, he said. The melody is taken from the Scottish folk song "The Green Hills Of Tyrol," which itself is taken from "La Tua Danza Sì Leggiera," a chorus from Rossini's Guillaume Tell (William Tell) opera. The song is about a soldier who finds himself fighting in Tyrol, which is in Austria. Victorious in battle but critically injured, he asks the piper not to play the pibroch (funeral music) there, but in the Scottish hillside. Scottish troops were not known to fight in Tyrol, but the character William Tell in Guillaume Tell travels there, which is how "The Green Hills of Tyrol" was named. "A Scottish Soldier" was released on the Top Rank label in September 1960 backed by "The Muckin' O' Geordie's Byre." The sheet music retailed for 2/6d from James S. Kerr of Glasgow; the song was arranged by Iain MacFadyen. >> In the UK, this peaked at #19 but spent 36 weeks in the Top 40, a run that lasted from January to September, 1961.
There was a soldier, a Scottish soldier Who wandered far away And soldiered far away There was none bolder With good broad shoulder He'd fought in many a fray And fought and won He'd seen the glory He'd told the story Of battles glorious and deeds victorious But now he's sighing His heart is crying To leave those green hills of Tyrol Because those green hills are not highland hills Or the island hills They're not my land's hills And, fair as these green foreign hills may be They are not the hills of home And now this soldier, this Scottish soldier Who wandered far away And soldiered far away Sees leaves are falling And death is calling And he will fade away in that far land He called his piper, his trusty piper And bade him sound a lay a pibroch sad to play Upon a hillside, a Scottish hillside Not on those green hills of Tyrol Because those green hills are not highland hills Or the island hills They're not my land's hills And, fair as these green foreign hills may be They are not the hills of home And now this soldier, this Scottish soldier Will wander far no more and soldier far no more And on a hillside, a Scottish hillside You'll see a piper play his soldier home He's seen the glory, he's told his story Of battles glorious and deeds victorious The bugles cease now, he is at peace now Far from those green hills of Tyrol Because those green hills are not highland hills Or the island hills They're not my land's hills And, fair as these green foreign hills may be They are not the hills of home Because those green hills are not highland hills Or the island hills They're not my land's hills And, fair as these green foreign hills may be They are not the hills of home
| Week | Chart Date | Position | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Apr 3, 1961 | 94 | 32 |
| 2 | Apr 10, 1961 | 92 | 34 |
| 3 | Apr 17, 1961 | 88 | 38 |
| 12 | Jun 19, 1961 | 83 | 43 |
| 13 | Jun 26, 1961 | 69 | 57 |
| 14 | Jul 3, 1961 | 76 | 50 |