"The Last Farmer (guitar instrumental)" genre: Celtic
	lo fi play (dial-up) hi fi play (broadband) download (4.0 MB)	email track to a friend	add to My.MP3
	The farmers of Scotland wondered, in the grip of winter and the foot and mouth epidemic of 2001, if they were the last generation on the land... a lament for the last farmer, whenever and wherever he (or she) may be. NO 1 IN EDINBURGH MP3 CHART MARCH 9 - and added as a BONUS TRACK to 'The Emerant Lea' CD! (Not included on liner notes).n
	MP3.com CD: The Emerant Lea - buy it! MP3.com CD: Hand-Picked Songs and Tunes - buy it! CD: The Emerant Lea   Label: mp3.com Credits: © David Kilpatrick March 2001
	Story Behind the Song The snow which came at the end of February to the Scottish Borders was not welcome in the way our snow at Christmas had been - then, I wrote 'Lullaby for a Sleeping Landscape'. This snow was sudden, heavy, wind-blasted and clinging; it brought down trees, and it brought down most of the power lines in the entire region. Many were without power for a week and food had to be airlifted to isoated farms and villages. Simultaneously, an epidemic of foot and mouth disease swept the country; great trenches were dug and cows, sheep and pigs burned by the thousands. The farm sheepdogs and the hunting horses had to be destroyed too, wherever the disease was found. Farmers who would have been able to help clear the roads of snow were quarantined on their land, and not allowed to move. The countryside was barred to visitors. Some farmers saw this as the final blow - the end of their farming lives. One Irish farmer, aged 29, looked more like 49 as he spoke on TV about having to 'get a job' and never return to farming. This instrumental is my reaction to the whole scene - the darkness of towns without light or heat, empty roads, telephones and mobiles all dead, only news on the radio about the growing problems. I called it 'The Last Farmer' because that is the saddest part of it all - the idea that a period of a month, maybe, in winter, could end a way of life for so many people. I do not think it will, but unless we change many of our ways there will be a bleak time to come.

Copyright notice. All material on MP3.com is protected by copyright law and by international treaties. You may download this material and make reasonable number of copies of this material only for your own personal use. You may not otherwise reproduce, distribute, publicly perform, publicly display, or create derivative works of this material, unless authorized by the appropriate copyright owner(s).