The Carrick Stone
Cumbernauld gets a bad press. It has been mocked, maligned and written off by people who often don’t know it. But I do. I’ve got cousins there, good, grounded people with spirit, humour and grit. And like many towns in Scotland, Cumbernauld has more history, character and heart than it’s ever given credit for.
It’s also given us moments of real cultural pride. Gregory’s Girl, in my opinion, one of the greatest Scottish films ever made, was shot there. Craig Ferguson, one of our most distinctive comic voices and an international flag barer for Scotland, came from there. These are not footnotes. They’re part of what makes the place matter.
I wrote this song as a kind of sonic tribute. Not a quiet one. A huge one. The kind of track you’d get if you put DragonForce and Runrig in a room and asked them to write a towering anthem to the soul of a Scottish new town. It’s loud, melodic, unapologetically proud. It’s a polite “up you” to the cynics, and a rousing cry to the underdogs.
Because that’s what this song is really about. Not just Cumbernauld, but what it stands for. New towns. Working towns. Places built to give people opportunity, space, shelter and community. Places that get ridiculed for their rough edges but quietly shape lives and futures in ways the critics will never understand.
I love the sentiment behind 'Carrick'. It’s for the towns that get overlooked. It’s for the people who build lives without fanfare. It’s for anyone who’s ever been underestimated, and kept going anyway.
And for the record: I love this song. It’s big, bold and built to last, just like the town that inspired it.
Finn Moray
Song Lyrics
[Verse 1]
Beneath the Antonine sky they came,
in armour, stone, and Roman name.
But still the hill stood, strong and wide,
where Forth and Clyde begin to divide.
They raised a shrine of flame and bone,
but time bowed low to the Carrick Stone.
An altar left, defiant and bare,
still breathing freedom in the open air.
[Chorus]
Stand by the Carrick Stone,
hold your head high,
where the streams meet, and the falcons fly.
We are the children of earth and flame.
From Cumbernauld we speak our name.
Through wind and time we still remain,
not just a town, but soul and flame.
Oh Carrick Stone, we stand with you:
strong, proud, and true.
[Verse 2]
From Fleming hands and castle walls,
to planners’ dreams and concrete halls.
A village born of clay and fight
grew into towers and steel and light.
They laughed, they cursed our rising plan,
but beauty lives in what we withstand.
They mocked the mall, the poured design,
but we walk paths they’ll never find.
[Chorus]
Stand by the Carrick Stone,
hold your head high,
where the streams meet, and the falcons fly.
We are the children of earth and flame.
From Cumbernauld we speak our name.
Through wind and time we still remain,
not just a town, but soul and flame.
Oh Carrick Stone, we stand with you:
strong, proud, and true.
[Bridge]
They built a town to take the weight
of Glasgow’s breath and overflowed fate.
But in these streets, this glen, this glade,
a deeper root refused to fade.
Carrick keeps the line held tight,
between the Roman and the right,
between the past and what we claim:
a place, a stone, that speaks our name.
[Final Chorus]
Stand by the Carrick Stone,
hold your head high,
where the streams meet,
and the falcons fly.
We are the children of earth and flame.
From Cumbernauld we speak our name.
Through wind and time we still remain,
not just a town, but soul and flame.
Oh Carrick Stone, we stand with you:
strong, proud, and true.
[Outro]
Strong, proud, and true… Carrick, we carry you.