"Sgt. MacKenzie" Above is a download link for the music.

Soundtrack adaptation titled "Flying High" Above is a download link for the music.

Lay me doon in the caul caul groon Whaur afore monie mair huv gaun Lay me doon in the caul caul groon Whaur afore monie mair huv gaun   When they come a wull staun ma groon Staun ma groon al nae be afraid   Thoughts awe hame tak awa ma fear Sweat an bluid hide ma veil awe tears   Ains a year say a prayer faur me Close yir een an remember me   Nair mair shall a see the sun For a fell tae a Germans gun   Lay me doon in the caul caul groon Whaur afore monie mair huv gaun Lay me doon in the caul caul groon Whaur afore monie mair huv gaun Whaur afore monie mair huv gaun

Lay me down in the cold cold ground Where before many more have gone Lay me down in the cold cold ground Where before many more have gone   When they come I will stand my ground Stand my ground I'll not be afraid   Thoughts of home take away my fear Sweat and blood hide my veil of tears   Once a year say a prayer for me Close your eyes and remember me   Never more shall I see the sun For I fell to a Germans gun   Lay me down in the cold cold ground Where before many more have gone Lay me down in the cold cold ground Where before many more have gone Where before many more have gone

From Moja Irlandia

Sgt Charles Stuart MacKenzie

A note on Sgt. MacKenzie by Willie Younie in the March 2002 issue of The Rothsian

    The lament, "Sgt MacKenzie", is written and sung by Joe Kilna Mackenzie son of Maria McCabe and the late Alex McCabe of Provost Christie Drive, Rothes. Joe wrote the song in memory of his Grandfather a Moray man, from Bishopmill, who along with hundreds of other Seaforth Highlanders from the Elgin/Rothes area went to fight in the great war. Sgt Charles Stuart MacKenzie was bayoneted to death at, the age of 35, while defending one of his badly injured colleagues in the hand to hand fighting of the trenches.

Seaforth Highlanders

Gaelic motto CUIDICH'N RIGH (Help the King)

    Joe penned the haunting lament after the death of his wife, Christine, five years ago. The track was then included in his band Clan An Drumma's album "Tried and True". Film director Randall Wallace, who also won an Oscar for his screenplay of Braveheart, received a CD of the album and was haunted by the emotion and spirit of reverence captured in "Sgt MacKenzie. He arranged for Joe and band mate Donnie MacNeil, who played the pipes, to re-record 'Sgt MacKenzie' with the backing of an 80 piece orchestra and the WestPoint Military Choir at the famous Abbey Road Studios in London. The lament has been introduced into the film during key scenes with Joe singing on his own and on the last track of the film with the orchestra and choir.
    Joe's granny, Catherine MacKenzie Rizza, was a daughter of Sgt MacKenzie. She returned to Moray from Glasgow and settled in Rothes where her daughter Maria and son Charles along with her grandchildren and other members of the family were living. Through the years Joe spent many hours listening to her tales of his great grandfather. Sadly his granny died three and a half years ago and never got to listen to the song. Recently Joe visited her grave in Rothes and sang the song to her.
Sgt Mackenzie's wife, Joe's great granny also called Catherine, lived in Rothes for many years. Later in life she married Lewis Allan, North Street where she lived until her death in 1955.
    Joe plans to visit France sometime in the future to play Sgt MacKenzie at the grave of his great grandfather.