The late Ernie Anderson sang this song in my parents house in Manse Crescent on Hogmanay over 50 years ago and I’m grateful to his widow Ruby for providing the words.
Now listen and I’ll tell you a story
Of a boy who was taken from home
Just to fight for his King and his country
And also his loved ones at home.
So they put him in a Highland Division
And sent him to a far off foreign land
Where the flies buzz around in their thousands
And there’s nothing to see there but sand.
Now the battle it started one morning
‘Neath a wide open Libyan sun
It was there that a poor Scottish laddie
Was shot by an old Eytie gun.
So they dug his grave deep in the desert
And they buried him deep in the sand
On his head was that famous Balmoral
And the Red Hackle clasped in his hand.
When his Mother heard the news on the wireless
How she cried and she cried and she cried
But she smiled when she heard these words spoken
Your son like a hero has died.
So this is the end of my story
The moral I’m now going to tell
He had fought he had died for Christ’s glory
He was one of the Ladies from Hell.