I have always loved The Cockle Gatherer - it's one of my very favourite folk songs and I don't understand why more Scottish folk singers haven't covered it - it's so evocative, it really makes you feel you're in the Hebrides! As I child I heard Kenneth McKellar sing it, and while I don't like his operatic style, he did sing it with real feeling and atmosphere, and it's thanks to him that I fell in love with the song. It was collected in the Isle of Eigg at the turn of the 20th century by Marjorie Kennedy Fraser and part-translated from the Gaelic by Kenneth McLeod. There's a nice recording of it by Lisa Milne, using the Kenneth McLeod translation, here (which you can listen to most of free by clicking the musical notation sign). There's also one by Marie McLaughlin on the same page but I think she sings it a bit too slow.

The lyrics, which are not in the DT but which I think should be, are:

Chorus:
I dal a du vil, i dal a du horo
Blythe I gather cockles here
I dal a du vil, i dal a du horo
Blythe I gather cockles here


Joy scream of sea gulls
Down on the skerry there
Joy scream of sea gulls
Blythe I gather cockles here

Chorus

Laughter of sea waves
Down on the skerry there
Laughter of sea waves
Blythe I gather cockles here

Chorus, ending with
Still I gather cockles here.


Anyway, I was curious about the origins of this song - was it actually sung by cockle gatherers while they worked? It turns out that it was. I recently received the following email from the Eigg History Society which I thought I'd share with anyone who was interested:

----- Original Message -----
From:
To: "Dave Rado"
Sent: Tuesday, February 21, 2012 2:01 PM
Subject: Re: Fw: The Cockle Gatherer

Hi Dave,

Your enquiry has been passed to me by Maggie, as the contact person for the History Society.

Following its publication by Marjorie Kneedy Fraser, the song was very popular at one time, it has now been re-recorded and sung to the original tune ( MKF tended to change and adapt the tunes to make them more "palatable" to her audience) by Gaelic singers and the tune can be found in the Feisean nan Gaidheal song book 1.

It was recorded from an Eigg singer in any case- I can;t remember the name but it is indicated in MJK 's book) and it may well have composed locally, although it may have come from Barra where cockle gathering was more common. It is typical of the kind of Gaelic work songs where repetitive activity is alleviated by rhythmical singing. It certainly would have been sung on the shore but also performed at ceilidhs as it has a rousing chorus. Our children learnt it and sung it on our community buy-out celebration day.

There are a few Eigg families left that can trace their generations back a really long way, so please get in touch if you would like further information.You can also look at our Eigg website ( google Eigg History society) if you wish.

Best regards,
Camille Dressler
Comunn Eachdraidh Eige
Eigg History Society