Ever since coming here some eight years ago, that inscription has intrigued me. There are lots of underground streams in Crieff (I’m sure there’s one running under my house and under the little cottage as well), but the nearest river is way, way down the hill. So I think the prospect of flooding from a river is rather remote.
After telling a friend about the inscription earlier this week, I took this photo of it and decided to Google it, wondering whether it was an old local custom or something like that. But it turns out that River, Stay Away From My Door is a song that was first recorded in 1931 and made famous by Paul Robeson that year and then by Frank Sinatra in 1960.
Here are some of the lyrics:
♫ Don’t come up any higher
I’m so all alone
Leave my bed and my fire
That’s all I own
I ain’t breaking your heart
Don't go breaking my heart
River, stay away from my door ♫
So that’s it. I guess the inscription was put there by a Frank Sinatra fan. Right, I’m off to carve I DID IT MY WAY into my back doorstep.