From the recording Bent On Rambling
Robin Laing is Scotland’s “Whisky Bard”. Indeed, six of his ten solo-recordings are dedicated fully to what he regards as partway between a hobby and a passion – “uisge beatha”, the “water of life”. While most are predictably hilarious, adventuresome, or bawdy, this first whisky-song he ever wrote is thoughtful bordering on nostalgic. The idea coming to him on the great whisky-isle of Islay, the composing of it would have to wait until the summer of 1995, when “I was on holiday on the Isle of Eigg. The weather was incredible, and I was at peace with everything. Eigg does that to me anyway, but there was at least one moment, I admit, when the effect was enhanced by a glass of fragrant malt whisky, slowly savoured as the shadows of evening spread over fantastically panoramic views. With thoughts of whisky and its production and what it means to Scotland revolving in my head, I found myself in songwriting mode and out came the guitar. The result was my personal tribute to malt whisky, a song called “More Than Just a Dram”"…
Lyrics
Take clear water from the hill and barley from the lowlands. Take a master craftsman’s skill and something harder to define – like secrets in the shape of coppered still or the slow silent magic work of time. Whisky you’re the devil in disguise. At least to some that’s the way it seems, but you’re more like an angel in my eyes. Catch the heady vapors as they rise and turn them into dreams.
Bring home sherry-casks from Spain, Sanlúcar de Barrameda, and fill them up again with the spirit of the land. Then let the wood work to the spirit’s gain in a process no one fully understands. Whisky you’re the devil in disguise…
For the spirit starts out clear, but see the transformation after many patient years when at last the tail unfolds. For the colors of the seasons will appear from paleless yellow to the deepest gold. Whisky you’re the devil in disguise…
When you hold it in your hand, it’s the pulse of one small nation. So much more than just a dram, you can see it if you will – the people and the weather and the land. The past into the present is distilled. Whisky you’re the devil in disguise…