The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #60757   Message #2479061
Posted By: GUEST,Robert Andrew Jaffray
29-Oct-08 - 11:58 AM
Thread Name: Origins: Musha ringum duram da...
Subject: RE: Origins: Musha ringum duram da...
I got this off the web...The words themselves have no meaning. An old singing tradition in Ireland is lilting, diddling or sometimes called mouth music. When the language and music were banned the Irish improvised the sound of instruments with their voice and lilting became an art. Many Irish and Scottish ballads written in English have some of these 'nonsense' words or lilts added. It is also akin to Swiss yodeling.