CAPE BRETON LULLABY (Kenneth Leslie)
Driftwood is burning blue Wild walk the wall shadows Night winds go riding by Riding by the lochie meadows On to the ring of day Flows Mira's stream singing
(Chorus) Cadil Gu La, laddie, la, laddie Sleep the stars away.
Far on Beinn Bhreagh's side Wander the lost lambies Here, there and everywhere Everywhere their troubled mammies Find them and fold them deep Fold them to sleep, singing
Cadil Gu La, laddie, la, laddie Sleep the moon away.
Daddy is on the bay He'll keep the pot brewing Keep all from tumbling down Tumbling down to rack and ruin Pray, Mary, send him home Safe from the foam singing
Cadil Gu La, laddie, la, laddie Sleep the dark away.
Written by Kenneth Leslie, this lullaby is well known in eastern Canada. It first appeared in print in 1964 in "Songs of Nova Scotia", sung to a different melody. The melody used now is an old Scottish air, played slowly, which Leslie himself would sometimes use.
It was first recorded by Catherine MacKinnon in the 1960's on "The Voice of an Angel" Arc A-628, and has been recorded numerous times since. A good, fairly recent (and good) version is by Teresa Doyle, on "Forerunner", 1991, Bedlam Records TD002.
"Cadil Gu La ", apparently means "sleep until morning." It is apparently the title of a fiddle tune found in the Fraser Collection.
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