I'm not sure what this book is about, but I like it anyway.

Most folk song books have an organizing principle. "Folk songs of somewhere." "The songs of so-and-so." "Songs of workers-in-this-job." This isn't really any of those -- yes, it says they're songs of Scotland, but there are far more songs of Scotland than you'll find in this book; more than a thousand have been collected in Aberdeenshire alone! Nor are these songs that Ewan MacColl collected (he picked up a few of them, but most are things he learned from other professional singers). Nor are they of a particular type or date.

In other words, this is a book of songs that Ewan MacColl thought would be good to put in a book of songs. An unusual principle, but not a bad one. There are a lot of good songs in here, with words, music, chords, and glossary.

The one real lack is background information. There are brief notes to most of the songs, but they aren't always adequate. The back pages list "Sources and Recordings of the Songs," but his is brief and hard to use -- and you have to know a lot of little secrets, such as which of MacColl's source books are reputable and which are not. Oh, and it helps to know that Ewan MacColl was actually Jimmy Miller, and the Betsy Miller he claims to have had so many songs from was... his mother.

In summary, this isn't the greatest book for the ballad scholar (you might as well go directly to the sources) -- but if you just want a book of highly singable Scottish songs, go for it. ( )