Letter From America - The Heartbreaking Backstory

When I was younger (or wee, as I would say, as a Scot), I always loved the song Letter From America by The Proclaimers, taken from their debut album, This is the Story, in 1987. It sounded like a poignant song about someone who had emigrated from Scotland to Canada. To the casual listener, I guess that’s a fair estimation. It speaks about missing Scotland when you’re away from it (something we Scots have a habit of doing – listen to Dougie MacLean’s Caledonia for further evidence).

What I discovered when I was older and could decipher the lyrics more was that it actually had a darker backstory to the lyrics. I felt it may be that many others don’t know the history and politics involved.

Long History of Emigration…and More

So, lyrically, it does highlight the long history of Scots emigrating from Scotland to Canada and America to leave behind the economic depression we have experienced over the years. The line “the day you sailed from Wester Ross to Nova Scotia” infers to that.

However, there is also a darker side in that the lyrics in the song allude to enforced emigrations that occurred during the Highland Clearances. The Highland Clearances were the enforced evictions of a considerable number of Scottish Highlands and Islands tenants, that occurred in two phases between 1750 and 1860.

The First Phase

This phase of Highland Clearances occurred to to agricultural improvement and because landlords needed to increase the income they made, to offset their increased debts. Potential and actual bankruptcy was a larger part of the story of these clearances.

During this phase there was the enclosure of run rig system and shared grazing that managed open fields. In their place were larger-scale pastoral farms for which higher rates of rent were required.

The idea was that all the displaced tenants would be employed in industries related to kelp, quarrying and fishing. Their reduced status from being known as farmers to simply crofters became one of the bones of contention.

The Second Phase

As a result of that first phase, there was overcrowded crofting communities that led into the second phase because they had lost their means and ability to support themselves adequately, due to the collapse of indsuttries and/or famine. That then led to what was known as “assisted passages” in which landowners paid tenant’s fares to emigrate. The tenants who were selected, really had little to no choice but to accept this fate. To top that all off, there was then The Highland Potato Famine which gave a greater sense of urgency for people to emigrate.

In the song there is a section that has the lyrics:

"Lochaber no more

Sutherland no more

Lewis no more

Skye no more"

These are four places that were completely decimated by the Highland Clearances.

Comparison to The Thatcher Years and Economic Policies

The song also compares the effects of the Highland Clearances with what happened in the 1980s due to Margaret Thatcher’s Conservative Government’s economic policies that resulted in the closure of many industrial businesses throughout the United Kingdom, whether it was steelworks, mines etc. due to the de-industrialisation the country was forcibly experiencing.

Later in the song, the lyrics allude to this with the change of he above to:

“Bathgate no more

Linwood no more

Methil no more

Irvine no more”

Each of these were important, industrial locations in Scotland.

So, while the song may feel like an ode to someone choosing to move away from the homeland in search of something different, the actual truth behind it is a lot less romantic and heartbreaking. So when I listen to the song now, my view has changed from when I first heard it.

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I hope you enjoyed this article and maybe even learned something.