Okay, are you sitting comfortably? Here goes (note: this is from the same book as the Gaelic text -- see my original post):

Splendid Alasdair, son of Colla/ From your arm I'd expect valour/ Auchinbreck's laird was killed by you,/ And was buried at the lochside./ Though small I be, I cast a sod on him,/ Which made Neil of the Castle gloomy,/ And left his son melancholy./ Lachlann's daughter herself was lamenting,/ And Donald's daughter her hands was wringing./ 'Tis no wonder, her son was worth it,/ Copious drinker, clever horseman,/ Army leader, foremost in battle,/ You'd play the great pipes on a hillock,/ You would drink red wine in houses./ I heard today a tale amazing,/ That little Glasgow is a-blazing,/ And Aberdeen has been plundered./

You asked "what does it mean" and I'm not sure this helps! One thing about these songs, they were intended to aid the laborious process of fulling tweed cloth, which was a rhythmical exercise lasting quite a long time -- so the longer the song was, the better. This is why there frequently are odd junctures in waulking-song texts, such as we see at the end here. I imagine the line beginning "I heard today..." is actually the beginning of a whole new song text, that was tacked on the end here because it happened to be in the same metre as what went before.

As to "which stanza is which" ... having not posted to this group before, I was kind of dismayed to see how the text printed out on the screen, as I actually entered it line-by-line. In the English translation I have inserted slash marks to show where lines end, and I'm hoping that will be clearer. Meanwhile, here's the first few lines of the Gaelic again, minus the refrain vocables; maybe slash marks will help here too:

Alasdair mhic Cholla gasda,/ As do laimh-sa dh'earbainn tapachd,/ Mharbhadh Tighearna Ach' nam Breac leat,/ Thiolaigeadh e an oir an lochain./ Ged 's beag me fhin chuir mi ploc air,/ 'S chuir siod gruaim air Niall a' Chaisteil,/ 'S dh'fhag e lionndubh air a mhac-sa,/ 'S bha Ni Lachlainn fhein 'ga bhasadh,/ 'S bha Nic Dhomhnaill 'n deidh a creachadh;/ Cha b'iaonadh sin, b'fhiach a mac e/ Dronncair, poiteir, seolt' air marcraichd,/ Ceanndard an airm an tus a bhatail,/ Sheinneadh piob leat mhor air chnocan,/ Dh'oladh fion leat dearg am portaibh./ Chuala mi 'n de sgeul nach b'ait lion,/ Glaschu bheag bhith 'na lasair,/ 'S Obair-eadhain an deidh a chreachadh./

The notes in this book report that the song was recorded in Castlebay, Barra, in 1950. It comments on the deeds of Alasdair MacDonald, "Alasdair mac Colla Chiotaich" (Alasdair son of left-handed Coll), "who was the Marquis of Montrose's second-in-command in the Civil War in 1644-45. Alasdair was a man of tremendous courage and endurance, and a perfect second-in-command to Montrose; together their force of Highlanders and Irishmen won a series of spectacular victories against odds over the Covenanters." Alasdair eventually fell in the battle of Cnoc na nDos in Ireland in 1647.

Hey, you asked.