The Ghost of Bras d'Or

'The Ghost of Bras d'Or'

'The Ghost of Bras d'Or'. Cape Breton ballad, with music by Charlie MacKinnon and lyrics by Lillian Crewe Walsh. It recounts the death, in Europe during World War II, of Major (former Piper) Donald John MacPherson from the Bras d'Or area of Cape Breton. The song was recorded first in 1958 by MacKinnon for Rodeo and was published by Bay Music. Popular with country artists, it has been recorded by the Canadians Stompin' Tom Connors and Dick Nolan and by the US singers George Hamilton IV, Claude King, and Mac Wiseman, among others. MacKinnon (b Sydney, Cape Breton, NS, 25 Nov 1919), a railwayman on the Island and performer in the Wilf Carter tradition, has made several LPs and singles for Rodeo, Arc, and Marathon and, with Lillian Crewe Walsh, a poet from Neil Harbour, Cape Breton, has written other narrative songs.