The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #9608   Message #1609160
Posted By: ChS
19-Nov-05 - 06:40 PM
Thread Name: Origins: Ballad of Glencoe / Massacre of Glencoe
Subject: RE: Origins: Ballad of Glencoe / Massacre of Glencoe
Thanks so much, Malcolm. I think the tune you mention is the answer to my question even if it does not fit the text perfectly. The oral tradition and the time interval between the publication of the broadside (ca 1850) and the recording of the tune (1905) may explain these distortions.

As to Fraser, he gives no lyrics just an explanatory note to each of his tunes. In the present case, he sums up the text: an owl is supposed to tell the story of the massacre. He gives for each tune a Gaelic and an English title and it is not always obvious if the song concerned has lyrics and in which language.