Lyr Add: Brochan Lom

30 Jun 07 - 04:39 AM (#2090703)
Subject: Lyr Add: BROCHAN LOM (traditional)
From: alasdair_s

Gaelic:
Verse 1
O brochan lom tana lom brochan lom is sughain
Brochan lom tana lom brochan lom is sughain
O brochan lom tana lom brochan lom is sughain
Brochan lom se tana lom se brochan lom is sughain

Chorus
Brochan tana tana tana brochan lom sughain
Brochan tana tana tana brochan lom sughain
Brochan tana tana tana brochan lom sughain
Brochan lom se tana lom se brochan lom is sughain

Verse 2
O thugaibh aran do na gillean leis a bhrochan sugain
O thugaibh aran do na gillean leis a bhrochan sugain
O thugaibh aran do na gillean leis a bhrochan sugain
Brochan lom se tana lom se brochan lom is sughain

Verse 3
Seo an rud a gheibhaemaid o nighean Gobha 'n duine
Seo an rud a gheibhaemaid o nighean Gobha 'n duine
Seo an rud a gheibhaemaid o nighean Gobha 'n duine
Brochan lom se tana lom se brochan lom is sughain

English Phonetic:

Verse 1
O brochen lowm tahna lowm brochen lowm 's sooan
Brochen lowm tahna lowm brochen lowm 's sooan
O brochen lowm tahna lowm brochen lowm 's sooan
Brochen lowm shay tahna lowm shay brochen lowm 's sooan

Chorus
Brochen tahna tahna tahna brochen lowm 's sooan
Brochen tahna tahna tahna brochen lowm 's sooan
Brochen tahna tahna tahna brochen lowm 's sooan
Brochen lowm shay tahna lowm shay brochen lowm 's sooan

Verse 2
O hookeev ahran doe na geelyan lesh a vrochan sooan
O hookeev ahran doe na geelyan lesh a vrochan sooan
O hookeev ahran doe na geelyan lesh a vrochan sooan
Brochen lowm shay tahna lowm shay brochen lowm 's sooan

Verse 3
Show an root a yuhveh meatch o neean goan doonya
Show an root a yuhveh meatch o neean goan doonya
Show an root a yuhveh meatch o neean goan doonya
Brochen lowm shay tahna lowm shay brochen lowm 's sooan

from an article in the Scots Independent:

http://www.scotsindependent.org/features/singasang/brochan_lom.htm

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30 Jun 07 - 05:45 AM (#2090745)
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: BROCHAN LOM
From: Dead Horse

I remember this catchy song from my childhood and have always wondered what the hell it was all about.
Any chance of a translation for us non gallic speaking emigres?

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30 Jun 07 - 06:33 AM (#2090768)
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: BROCHAN LOM
From: Jim McLean

Verse 1
Gruel thin and meagre, gruel thin from sowans.
Verse 2
Give ye bread to the young men with sowans-gruel
Verse 3
This is what we used to get from the smith's daughter at the Dun

This above was a jocular song that arose about some ill-made porridge, which being very thin was declared to be like gruel, or even 'sowans' (the fermented juice of oatmeal husks boiled, in bygone times a favoutite article of food in Scotland. Frances Tolmie.

From One Hundered and Five Songs of Occupation from the Western isles of Scotland.

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30 Jun 07 - 05:37 PM (#2091149)
Subject: Tune Add: BROCHAN LOM
From: Malcolm Douglas

One Hundred and Five Songs of Occupation from the Western Isles of Scotland was originally published in The Journal of the Folk-Song Society, IV:3 (16) 1911. A facsimile reprint is currently available from Llanerch Press.

Since the words of a song are of limited use without the tune that belongs to them (particularly with a song of this kind), here it is.


X:1
T:Brochan lom, tana lom
T:Gruel thin and meagre
Z:Frances Tolmie
H:Sung in the nursery at Bracadale Manse, Skye, 1861
B:'One Hundred and Five Songs of Occupation from the Western Isles of Scotland'
B:in 'Journal of the Folk-Song Society', IV:3 (16) 1911, 192-3
N:Lively. Reel time.
N:'dha': dialect = 'do'
L:1/8
Q:1/4=120
M:4/4
K:A
c B A2 B A F2 | E B (BA) B2 B2 | c B A2 BA F2 |
w:Broch-an lom, tan-a lom; Broch-an lom sùgh-ain; Brochan- lom, tan-a lom,
E A A F A2 A2 | c e e e f f e c | B B B A B2 B2 :||
w:Broch-an tan-a sùgh-ain. Broch-an tan-a, tan-a, tan-a; Brocha-an tan-a sùgh-ain;
c e e e f f e c | B A A F A2 A2 | c e e e f a e c |
w:Broch-an tan-a, tan-a, tan-a; Broch-an tan-a sùgh-ain; Broch-an tan-a, tan-a, tan-a,
B B B A B2 B2 |c B A2 B A F2 | C A A F A2 A2 |
w:Broch-an tan-a sùgh-ain; Broch-an lom, tan-a lom, Broch-an tan-a sùgh-ain.
c B A F E C D C | B, B B A B2 B2 | c B A F E D C B, |
w:Thug-aibh ar-an dha na gill-ean, Leis a bhroch-an shùg-ain. Thug-aibh ar-an dha na gill-ean;
A, A A F A2 A2 | c B A F E C D C | B, G G A B2 B2 |
w:Leis a bhroch-an shùgh-ain; Thug-aibh ar-an dha na gill-ean, Leis a bhroch-an shùgh-ain,
c B A2 B A F2 | E A A F A2 A2 |]
w:Broch-an lom, tan-a lom, Brocha-an tan-a sùgh-ain.


Annie Gilchrist noted a relationship with the tune used for Lady Nairne's 'The Auld Hoose'.

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01 Jul 07 - 05:01 AM (#2091436)
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: BROCHAN LOM
From: Jim McLean

Malcolm, the melody you noted above, although in the One Hundered ... book is not the one sung today by most singers in Scotland. Macgregor and Hall et al do a different version. Do you know where that comes from?

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01 Jul 07 - 10:55 AM (#2091579)
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: BROCHAN LOM
From: Jim McLean

This is a pretty dreadful version but at least it gives the melody that most people sing.
www.tradebit.com/filedetail.php/470387

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01 Jul 07 - 02:28 PM (#2091715)
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: BROCHAN LOM
From: Malcolm Douglas

I see what you mean (on both counts!) I hadn't made the connection between the well-known tune and those words; now that you mention it, though, I've certainly heard it played and/or sung often enough. I expect I have a recording of somebody or other singing it, too, but my record collection is not well organised. At any rate I find it in Bruce Campbell's Orain nan Gaidheal vol I, though there in tonic sol-fa which I can't read.

As you'll know, the 'common' tune is also called 'Orange and Blue', and that name seems to date back a fair bit. I believe that a form of it appeared under that name in the fourth part of Gow's Repository (so early C19 at least), but I only have the first three. At what point it became associated with 'Brochan Lom' I can't begin to guess, but I see that it is or was commonly taught in schools and seems to be a staple of the Gaelic choirs; so that form will largely have supplanted any others (such as Miss Tolmie's example) in the popular consciousness.

In 105 Songs, Lucy Broadwood refers to "another tune to similar words in Puirt-a-beul" (ed. Keith Norman MacDonald, 1901, containing material provided by Miss Tolmie). I don't have a copy of that; it would be interesting to see what it was.

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01 Jul 07 - 10:22 PM (#2092033)
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: BROCHAN LOM
From: George Seto - [e-mail]

Oops! Forgot to put in HTML:

X:122
T:Brochan Lom
M:4/4
R:
K:G
"Verse"
d>c| "G"(B<G) G2 (D<G) G2| "G" B>c d>B "Em" G2 G2|
"Am" (c<A) A2 (D<A) A2| "D7" F>G A>F D2 D2|
"G" (B<G) G2 (D<G) G2| "G" B>c d>B "Em" G2 G2|
"C"e>c "G/B" d>B "Am" c>a "G"B>G| "D7" A>F (3DEF "G" G2 G2|
"Chorus"
"G" (B<d) d<d (B<d) d<d| "G" B>c d>B "Em" G2 G2|
"Am" (B<e) e<e (B<e) e<e | "Am" c>d e>c A2 "D7" A2|
"G" (B<d) d<d (B<d) d<d| "G" B>c d>B "Em" G2 G2|
"C"e>c "G/B" d>B "Am" c>a "G"B>G| "D7" A>F (3DEF "G" G2 G2|

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01 Jul 07 - 10:23 PM (#2092037)
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: BROCHAN LOM
From: George Seto - [e-mail]

Much better. Sorry guys

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01 Jul 07 - 11:33 PM (#2092095)
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: BROCHAN LOM
From: George Seto - [e-mail]

Darn!!!
Fixed the little mistake here:

X:122
T:Brochan Lom
M:4/4
R:
K:G
"Verse"
d>c| "G"(B<G) G2 (D<G) G2| "G" B>c d>B "Em" G2 G2|
"Am" (c<A) A2 (D<A) A2| "D7" F>G A>F D2 D2|
"G" (B<G) G2 (D<G) G2| "G" B>c d>B "Em" G2 G2|
"C"e>c "G/B" d>B "Am" c>A "G"B>G| "D7" A>F (3DEF "G" G2 G2|
"Chorus"
"G" (B<d) d<d (B<d) d<d| "G" B>c d>B "Em" G2 G2|
"Am" (B<e) e<e (B<e) e<e | "Am" c>d e>c A2 "D7" A2|
"G" (B<d) d<d (B<d) d<d| "G" B>c d>B "Em" G2 G2|
"C"e>c "G/B" d>B "Am" c>A "G"B>G| "D7" A>F (3DEF "G" G2 G2|



HEre's a similar one from JC's ABC Tunefinder
X: 1
T: Brochan Lom
R: shottish, strathspey
Z: John Chambers <jc:trillian.mit.edu>
M: C
L: 1/8
F:http://trillian.mit.edu/~jc/music/abc/Scotland/strathspey/BrochanLom2_A.abc         2007-07-02 02:22:45 UT
K: A
[| "A"E<A A2 c<A A2 | E>F E>D C<A, A,2 \
| "Bm"F<B B2 d<B B2 | F>G F>E "E7"D<B, B,2 |
| "A"E<A A2 c<A A2 | E>F E>D C<A, A,>C \
| "D"D>E F>G "A"A>B c>d | "E7"e>f e>d c>A A2 ||
|| "A"c<e e2 a<e e2 | c>d e>d c<A A2 \
| "Bm"d<f f2 b<f f2 | d>e f>e "E7"d<B B2 |
|| "A"c<e e2 a<e e2 | c>d e>d c<A A>c \
| "D"d>e f>g "A"a>e c>d | "E7"e>f e>d "A"c<A A2 |]

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02 Jul 07 - 05:11 AM (#2092225)
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: BROCHAN LOM
From: Jim McLean

George, your penultimate one is the standard melody sung in Scotland. I recorded Macgregor and Hall, Alastair McDonald and a few others singing it to that tune (about 35 years ago). Your last tune is, of course, very similar but I haven't heard it sung. The Brochan Lom in Frances Tolmie's book is the tune I play on the pipes.

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02 Jul 07 - 04:43 PM (#2092652)
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: BROCHAN LOM
From: Tootler

[trivia]
The tune which I remember from my Jimmie Hall and Robin MacGregor LP is also in the Clarke Tin Whistle tutor
[/trivia]

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02 Jul 07 - 04:45 PM (#2092656)
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: BROCHAN LOM
From: Tootler

Oh, and thanks to alasdair s for posting the words. I have long wanted these.

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03 Jul 07 - 09:24 PM (#2093549)
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: BROCHAN LOM
From: George Seto - [e-mail]

Should have done a Lyr Req:. I've sung it for about 15 years. Fairly standard CB song.

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