Where was Bobby Bob when you needed him?

NY KIRREE FO NIAGHTEY (The Sheep are Beneath the Snow)
From - Peter Kennedy, ed. "Folksongs of Britain and Ireland". London: Cassell, 1975

Lurg geurey dy niaghtey as arragh dy rio
Va ny shenn chirree marroo, agh eayin beggy vio.

[REFRAIN:] O girree shiu my voch'llyn, as gow shiu da'n clieau
Ta ny kiree fo niaghtey, cha dowin as v'ad rieau

Shoh dooyrt Nicholas Raby, as eh 'sy thie ching
Ta ny kirree fo niaghtey ayns Braaid Farrane-fing.

Shoh dooyrt Nicholas Raby, goll seose er y lout
Dy row my shiaght vannaght er my ghaa housane muilt.

Kirree t'ayms ayns y Laggan, kirree-goair er Clieau Rea
Kirree keoi 'sy Coan -y-Chistey cha jig dy bragh veih.

Dirree mooinjer Skeeyll Lonan, as hie ad er-y-chooyl
Hooar ad ny kirree marroo ayns Laggan Varoole.

Dirree mooinjer Skeeyll Lonan, as Skeeeylley-Chreest neesht
As hooar ad ny kirreee beggey ayns Laggan Agneash.

Ny muilt ayns y toshiaght, ny reaghyn 'sy vean
Eisht ny kirree trome-eayin c heet geiyrt orrooo shen.

'Streih lhiams son my chirree, cha vel monney bio
Agh ynrican eayin dy chur y sluight fo.

Ta mohlt aym son y Nollick as jees son y Chaisht
As ghaa ny tre elley son yn traa yioyms baase.

Translation:
After a winter of snowfall and a springtime of frost
The young lambs were living but the old sheep were dead

- O rise up my shepherds, and go to the hill
The sheep are 'neath snow as deep as can be.

Thus spoke Nicholas Raby and he sick at home,
The sheep are 'neath snow in the Braid Farrane-fing.

Thus spoke Nicholas Raby going up to the loft
On my 2000 wethers be my seven blessings tossed.

There are sheep on the Laggan, goats and sheep on Clieau Rea
Wild sheep in Coan-y-Chistey that will ne'er come away.

The Lonan folk rose and so soon they did go
And they found the dead sheep in the Laggan Varoole.

The Lonan folk rose and the folk of Lezayre
And they found the young sheep in the Laggan Agneash.

The wethers were in front and the rams in between
And the sheep heavy in lamb behind them were seen.

How I grieve for my sheep for not many of them live
For there's only the lambs to put under to breed.

There's a wether for Christmas and for Easter there's two
And two or three more for the time when I'm through.

Notes - from John Matt Mylechreest, Thaloo Hogg, Lonan, coll. by Mona Douglas, 1929
Also recorded - Joan Owen, 1958: BBC 24012

Printed versions: JFSS (Journal of the Folk-song Society), London, 1924, p117-20 (four versions); Mona Douglas, Manx Folk Songs, set 1, London: Stainer and Bell, 1928, no. 5, p 13; Alfred Perceval Graves, The Celtic Song Book, London: Ernest Benn, 1928, p 170, from MS of J F Crellim of Orrisdale
John Matt Mylechreest of Lonan parish, Isle of Man, was a shepherd crofter. He lived with his sister Christian on a small hill croft, the Thalloo Hogg. John Matt had only one arm, having lost the other in an accident while working in the construction of the Snaefell Mountain railway, but he remained active and capable. After his sister died, john Matt lived alone and looked after himself till well into his eighties. He was a great storyteller and knew quite a few songs and dances. He knew all the places mentioned in "Ny Kirreee fo niaghtey" and would tell how the song was "made on" Nicholas Colcheragh, or 'Raby' as he was called, " before the Murrays [the Dukes of Atholl] came to Mann", by a young man living in Raby who was a wonderful singer and fiddler, and how after the great storm and the loss of his flocks Raby himself died, so the tale went. John himself had worked for most of his life all around Raby, and had lived for a time at the Laggan Agneash, a croft at the foot of Snaefell.

Unlike some Manx songs which are sung in both English-language and Manx variants, "Ny Kirreee…" is always sung in Manx.

Above notes are from P Kennedy - a bit confusing as 'Raby' is both a placename and personal nickname. The "Songs in Manx Gaelic" from the Kennedy collection were available as cassette FSB 007, from Folktracks, the Centre for Oral Traditions, Dartington Ciderhouse, Totnes, Devon TQ9 6JB, England. But that info is from 1975. I first heard this song on a Horslips (Irish folk-rockers) album of Christmassy songs. - Philippa

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