robert maitland – Bubbalee (3:00)

Bubbalee Words & Music by Robert Maitland

Bubbalee is the oldest song on the “ Songcellar “ album but only in the sense that the tune has been in my head since I was twelve years old. Unlike many compositions it stayed with me and I often came back to it and played it to whoever was around me. Jayne Murdoch sings lead vocals and has made the song come alive. The first time I sang it to her she instantly liked it and made it her own. We recorded a demo of it at Alex Wilson’s studio in Dumfries along with five more songs and even then we realised that this would not be the final time we would record it. Bubbalee is certainly not typical in style to the other songs I write as it is out and out country, and at the age of twelve I was definitely not into country music of any form. I was listening to early Fleetwood Mac, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Cream, Hendrix and anything with a lead guitar break that I could learn. Considering my influences I really don’t know where the inspiration for Bubbalee came from. I could surmise that it came out of the endless practicing and the variations that form as ability increases but that would be simply guessing. I would rather guess the tune was given to me from the land of unwritten songs and having found it, I had to look after and care for it. I’ll let the you the listeners decide if I looked after it well enough.
I played the demo to Duncan Findlay who simply loved it. Duncan was the BA music guitar lecturer at Perth College, a well respected session player and musical director with the BBC. His enthusiasm for the song pushed it to the next level by aquiring the services of musicians, producer and studio all free of charge.