Origins: Smile In Your Sleep / Hush, hush

Subject: Lyr Add: SMILE IN YOUR SLEEP (Jim McLean)^^^
From: Alice
Date: 26 Nov 99 - 08:32 PM

A friend sent me lyrics to the lullaby that is called, I think, Mist On The Mountain (NOT Mist Covered Mountains). I don't know if this is trad or has a known author. Here is what he wrote, without the title:

Hush, hush, time to be sleeping,
Hush, hush, dreams are a creeping,
Dreams of peace and of freedom,
So smile in your sleep Bonnie Baby.

Once our valleys were ringing,
With sounds of children singing,
But now sheep bleat in the evening,
And sheelings lie empty and broken.

We stood with heads bowed in prayer,
While factors laid our cottages bare,
The flames licked the clear mountain air,
And many were dead by the morning.

Where was our fierce highland mettle,
Our men once so fearless in battle,
Now stand cold, huddled like cattle,
And wait to be shipped in the morning.

No use in crying or pleading,
Gone, gone, all hopes of staying,
So hush, hush, the anchor's aweighing,
Don't cry in your sleep Bonnie Baby.

-alice

---

Note:

This song, properly known as "Smile in Your Sleep," was written by Jim McLean. It appears unattributed in the Digital Tradition, under the title Don't Cry In Your Sleep (click). I submitted a corrected attribution to the Digital Tradition, and the correction has been made.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Hush, hush time to be sleeping
From: sophocleese
Date: 26 Nov 99 - 08:40 PM

Alice, I have a record of Cromdale doing this. It is sung to the tune of Mist Covered Mountains.Could there have been a mix up in the name somewhere? What you've written as the first verse is used as the chorus. Cromdale add an instrumental break using another tune called The Haunting, together they sound very lovely.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Hush, hush time to be sleeping
From: Alice
Date: 26 Nov 99 - 08:50 PM

There are two different tunes that are called Mist Covered Mountains, and the one for this lullaby I have also heard called Mist on the Mountain. If you put "Mist" in the forum search and set the days to 3 years, you will find the Mist Covered Mountains threads, including the one that provides Gaelic. That is the one I think you are referring to ... Oro, soon shall I see them, oh hee ro, see them oh, see them....

This tune to the lullaby is played by a couple of the fiddle players at our session, and I know it is a bit varied from the other Mist Covered Mountains. The fiddle player that wrote out the lyrics mentioned a recording that he has of it, but I can't remember the name of the band who did it. If no one here comes up with it, I'll ask him some other time. Maybe they are just playing it in their own variation so that it doesn't sound so much the same to me.

-alice

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Hush, hush time to be sleeping
From: Big Mick
Date: 26 Nov 99 - 09:27 PM

Absolutely beautiful song, which I have been singing for about 10 years now. I heard Barley Bree do it, and fell in love with it. It tells a story of the Highland Evictions. This was a period in time when Merry Old England decided, as they did in Ireland, that the trouble with Scotland was those cursed Scottish Highlanders. So they set about evicting them from their land, killing the Clan leaders, etc. By the way, in the third verse, second line, the second word should be "factors" not "battles". The Factor was the man who carried out the Lord's wishes, and usually handled the financial end of things. In the movie "Rob Roy" this man that was taken to the Island and killed by Macgregor's wife. In most cases they were not well liked.

I just had a few minutes and popped in. I miss you all, and will be back on a regular basis in 3 to 4 weeks.

All the best,

Mick

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Hush, hush time to be sleeping
From: CE Morgan
Date: 26 Nov 99 - 09:28 PM

A wonderful song!

The tune is indeed the same as "The Mist-Covered Mountains": however, when our group sings it, it's in A minor, so the F remains natural. Instrumental versions I have are the same notes, but with a G key sig, so the F gets sharpened. It makes for a very different sound.

I am a new member of this group, so I'm not too sure what their source was. Lyrics are the same as you listed, although you have an additional verse not in our version ("where was our highland mettle"), which I really like, so I think I'm going to see about adding it to our version!

Cindy Ellen

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Hush, hush time to be sleeping
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 26 Nov 99 - 09:31 PM

Doesn't work as a lullaby though, took my daughter to a song session at a festival (supposed to be my outing alone, but stupid SO double booked himself and couldn't get another babysitter, grrr grrr), and she yelled all the way through it. Took her out and up to a screaming heaving dance tent and she was asleep in under 10 minutes... Contrary little cow that she is.....

LTS

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Hush, hush time to be sleeping
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 26 Nov 99 - 09:40 PM

Just wish I could find or know the tune to The Mist Covered Mountains - have known the son "Hush Hush..." for years (incedentally the person I learnt it fro did use the "Hush Hush Time to be sleeping..." as both first verse and chorus) but can't find the other tune to compare with what I learned.

Jon

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Hush, hush time to be sleeping
From: sophocleese
Date: 26 Nov 99 - 10:11 PM

Cindy Ellen my husband, a piper, just pointed out to me that when played on the pipes in Bm the G would be a natural. What would happen if a crazy fiddler got hold of it I don't know....

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Hush, hush time to be sleeping
From: Lesley N.
Date: 26 Nov 99 - 10:17 PM

The words are by Jim MacLean who set them to Mist Covered Mountains. I have the words, a midi by Barry Taylor and a link to the lyrics of MCM at: Smile in Your Sleep (http://www.contemplator.com/folk3/hushhush.html)

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Hush, hush time to be sleeping
From: sophocleese
Date: 26 Nov 99 - 10:27 PM

Well I've just listened to the tune as played on Lesley N's site. I sing it a little differently. There he's/she's (?) playing that raised 6th of the minor scale, I sing that flatter, as Cindy Ellen said.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Hush, hush time to be sleeping
From: Jeri
Date: 26 Nov 99 - 10:33 PM

The version in the DT has the "mettle" verse, but not the third verse Alice posted. Other differences, too. Don't Cry In Your Sleep

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Hush, hush time to be sleeping
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 26 Nov 99 - 10:45 PM

I don't know whether its a 6th or what but again, the version of the tune I learned is slightly different in terms of a note being flattened or sharpened.

Jon

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Hush, hush time to be sleeping
From: Jeremiah McCaw
Date: 27 Nov 99 - 02:37 AM

For very fine rendition of "Hush, Hush" check out Bobby Watt's (ex-Cromdale) first solo CD, "Homeland". For a lovely version of "Mist-covered ..." in Gaelic, look for the Rankin Family; their first self-titled CD, I do believe.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Hush, hush time to be sleeping
From: Alice
Date: 27 Nov 99 - 09:36 AM

So, what I am reading is that there are variations of the tune when sung with these lullaby lyrics. It really threw me off when I heard it played by the fiddle player here, since I have known the Mist Covered Mountains (oro soon shall I see them) for a very long time, but this one sounded different. Lesley, your website was one of the first I looked through for the tune, along with Robinson's, but I wasn't using the titles people have called it in this list.

Mick, thanks for the Factor.

So, what is the most often used title for this song?
'Smile in Your Sleep', 'Don't Cry in Your Sleep', or 'Hush, Hush'.... or??

I'll have to ask the fiddle player again what recording he got this from.

-alice flynn

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Hush, hush time to be sleeping
From: sophocleese
Date: 27 Nov 99 - 10:47 AM

I always called it Hush, Hush.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Hush, hush time to be sleeping
From: Lesley N.
Date: 27 Nov 99 - 01:08 PM

I first heard the song in Inverness as Hush, Hush - and looked for it a long time under that title without finding it same as you!

There are so many alternate titles to so many tunes! I used to get tons of mail asking for a tune that was already on my pages - so I put the search engine up. It's pretty slow because there's so much to go through (I'd like to find one that would be speedy, cheap and not add a lot of extra storage space... every webmaster in the world in laughing..) It will find stuff by phrase - sort of a poor person's mudcat type of search. A lot of people start there because they don't like the background music!

Of course the search engine isn't perfect either. There are several ways to spell bonnie, etc, etc, etc... Just look at all the trouble we have at the cat! I sometimes still can't figure out why something doesn't show up when it's there all the time!

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Hush, hush time to be sleeping
From: Susan A-R
Date: 27 Nov 99 - 04:19 PM

I heard this one on an Allistair McLean recording (not sure if I have the spelling of his name right,) along with a lot of other Clearances songs, incuding Shores of Sutherland, another thread a week or two back. I don't think it's Mist Covered Mountains, but then folk music does interesting things to tune names and such. It sounds as if it is a recent song, though? Is this the case, or did this person collect it?

Susan A-R

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Hush, hush time to be sleeping
From: Alice
Date: 27 Nov 99 - 05:06 PM

Susan, I think Allistair McLean was the recording the fiddler mentioned to me.... rings a bell. Now that I think of it, it does sound like a version of Mist Covered Mountains.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Hush, hush time to be sleeping
From: GUEST,Philippa
Date: 24 Jul 02 - 09:49 AM

refreshing because Jim MacLean has joined Mudcat

Subject: Tune Add: THE MIST COVERED MOUNTAINS
From: GUEST,Philippa
Date: 24 Jul 02 - 10:11 AM

the DT doesn't include the tune, but it has been posted (from Barry Taylor's contemplator site transcription of Mist Covered Mountains) on Mudcat: a href=http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=7564#45749> tune added
Click to get the midi, I am pasting the abc into this thread.
X:1 T:THE MIST COVERED MOUNTAINS
M:3/4
Q:1/4=134
K:C
A6|A6|e3de2|e3dB2|G6|G4A2|B3AB2|A3GE2|c6|
d6|e3^fg2|B3AG2|A3Be2|d3cB2|A6|A6|A6|A6|e3de2|
e3dB2|G6|G4A2|B3AB2|A3GE2|c6|d6|e3^fg2|B3AG2|
A3Be2|d3cB2|A6|A6|e6|e6|d3eg2|e3dB2|G4G2|
d4B2|e4e2|d3cB2|A6|c6|d3eg2|B3AG2|A3Be2|d3cB2|
A6|A6|e6|e6|d3eg2|e3dB2|G4G2|d4B2|e4e2|d3cB2|
A6|c6|d3eg2|B3AG2|A3Be2|d3cB2|A6|A6|-A2||

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Hush, hush time to be sleeping
From: GUEST,Jim Mclean
Date: 24 Jul 02 - 01:13 PM

I wrote the song as Smile in your Sleep and it is published by Carlin Music under this title. I set to Mist covered Mountains of Home although it varies in places due to the mood of the words. Cheers, Jim Mclean

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Hush, hush time to be sleeping
From: Noreen
Date: 24 Jul 02 - 01:17 PM

Welcome, Jim. I love this song.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Hush, hush time to be sleeping
From: Jim McLean
Date: 30 Jul 02 - 11:53 AM

I should have said I set the words of Smile in your Sleep AKA Hush Hush, to the pipe version of Mist covered mountains of Home. The pipe version: after Hush, hush, the words --- time to be sle-ep-- stay on the same note, only dropping on --ing.( if that makes sense!) In the song Mist covered mountains of Home, the 4th syllable drops immediately! Cheers, Jim McLean

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Hush, hush time to be sleeping
From: GUEST
Date: 30 Jul 02 - 01:12 PM

What are your and other recorded versions that you are aware of Jim? Or others are aware of too...

I recall an MP3 of the song floating around MP3.com by a group named (I think) Tam Lin a year or so ago? That too was lovely. But I don't think it is available as an MP3 anymore, as the band has since broken up.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Hush, hush time to be sleeping
From: Jim McLean
Date: 30 Jul 02 - 02:23 PM

I don't really get to know all the recordings until I get my MCPS statements and sometimes the recordings slip through their net as knowingly or unknowingly artists change the title and register it as trad. This has happened with a few of my works. A recent recording I received from Lynn Morrison, Cave of Gold on Greentrax, is very poignant although she has written some new words to it!! Again I don't get to hear the song unless I buy the CD usually so I was grateful to Lynn. Cheers, Jim McLean

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Hush, hush time to be sleeping
From: Big Mick
Date: 30 Jul 02 - 06:43 PM

Jim, I want to add my voice to the chorus of welcomes. And I want to thank you for writing Hush, Hush. This is a song I have loved since the first time I heard it. The band was Barley Bree and they did a wonderful version of it.

Thanks and all the best,

Mick

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Hush, hush time to be sleeping
From: Morticia
Date: 30 Jul 02 - 06:49 PM

Jim, you aren't the Jim McLean I know from Surrey Social Services, are you?

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Hush, hush time to be sleeping
From: GUEST
Date: 30 Jul 02 - 11:07 PM

Hah! I found them. Tam Lyn is the name of the band, from So Cal. The title they use at their website is the Hush, Hush title.

Here is their website:

http://www.celticband.com/

I have a feeling there may be quite a few recordings of your song going by the name Hush, Hush, and claiming it as traditional. I've heard more than one musician friend claim that it was (though I've corrected them!)

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Hush, hush time to be sleeping
From: Jim McLean
Date: 31 Jul 02 - 07:52 AM

No,Morticia, I am not Jim Mclean

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Hush, hush time to be sleeping
From: Jim McLean
Date: 31 Jul 02 - 07:53 AM

Sorry!! I should have said I am not that Jim McLean!!!!

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Hush, hush time to be sleeping
From: Alice
Date: 31 Jul 02 - 06:28 PM

Jim, thanks for arriving here to enlighten. I saw this thread a couple of days ago and had totally forgotten that I was the one who started it until I clicked on it today! Now, where did my memory go.......

Alice

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Hush, hush time to be sleeping
From: Joe Offer
Date: 05 Sep 02 - 07:39 PM

Jim, are the lyrics in the first message correct?
Thanks.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Hush, hush time to be sleeping
From: Jim McLean
Date: 06 Sep 02 - 03:40 AM

Joe, the second line in the second verse should read
While factors laid our cottages bare
Factors were the agents, rent collectors, like Sellar who was actually tried but got off.
Thanks
Jim McLean

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Hush, hush time to be sleeping
From: An Croenen
Date: 06 Sep 02 - 11:58 AM

I bought the cd 'Bib & Tuck' by Maddy Prior & the Girls(2002, Parkrecords, PO Box 651, Oxford OX2 9RB) only last weekend, as it happens, and it has a version of Hush hush on it. Disconcertingly it states "words and music Prior/Kemp/Lathe". If they have just taken your song thinking it's a traditional, it would still have been nice to state it was a traditional. I feel a bit gutted by this, because I love the cd. It's very beautiful apart from a song called 'The dead are not dead', which perhaps understandibly gives me the creeps. Hush, hush happens to be my favourite tune on the cd, and one that pops up into my consciousness frequently. Which is why I started to read this thread in the first place. Thank you for such a lovely song. An

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Hush, hush time to be sleeping
From: Jim McLean
Date: 06 Sep 02 - 12:21 PM

Thanks An Croenen, I'll try and contact the company. This happens quite a lot and of course other people read the credits on the inlay card and the error is mutiplied. The company should apply to MCPS before issuing the cd and MCPS would put them straight. Often however they print the notes first. Thanks for now, Jim

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Hush, hush time to be sleeping
From: Jim McLean
Date: 06 Sep 02 - 02:51 PM

I cantacted Park records and they said it was a typing error and should have read Trad: arranged Prior/Kemp/Lathe. A nice chap explained they had contacted Cecil Sharpe House, that bastion of English Dance and folk Song, and they had told them the song was trad! MCPS also seemingly said it was copyright control and Trad!! What can one do? I'll be contacting MCPS on Monday. Thanks for bringing this to my attention as no doubt other songwriters are being derived of their income.Thanks An Croenen.
Jim Mclean

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Hush, hush time to be sleeping
From: An Croenen
Date: 06 Sep 02 - 05:51 PM

Hope it all turns out for the best for you. In the mean time, be chuffed everyone mistakes it for a trad. in the first place - nice complement, really. I couldn't figure out from this thread whether you have your own cd's and perhaps the very first original version of this song recorded somewhere. As a singer I am dying to discover other songs you've written. An

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Hush, hush time to be sleeping
From: Jim McLean
Date: 07 Sep 02 - 06:56 AM

Hi An Croenen, I have sent you a Personal Message with some details. Cheers, Jim Mclean

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Hush, hush time to be sleeping
From: Big Mick
Date: 07 Sep 02 - 08:30 AM

Jim, please.............your modesty is depriving the rest of us. On the Mudcat it is not only permissable but one is encouraged to promote their work. Please share with all of us about your recordings and other songs. I would be grateful.

Mick

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Hush, hush time to be sleeping
From: Jim McLean
Date: 07 Sep 02 - 09:45 AM

OK Big Mick:
I wrote a number of 'theme' LPs during the fifties, sixties and seventies. I contributed to Ding Dong Dollar, I wrote 'Scottish Republican Songs', an LP on Major Minor sung by Nigel Denver; LP (Scottish)Battle Ballads which included a number of Highland Clearance songs --'Shores of Sutherland', 'The Fire Raisers', 'Smile in your Sleep','Henny Munroe', 'The Laird's Prayer' and 'Stirling Brig' 'The (Scottish) Sabbath'; A compilation of Burns songs, an LP with Hugh MacDiarmid the Scottish Poet, an LP called 'Scotland in Song' sung by Alastair McDonald who later 'cloned' it right down to the cassette cover for another company!; an LP of Jacobite songs including some of my own; a couple of LPs on Decca for Nigel Denver which included 'The Barras' and 'The Massacre of Glencoe'; an LP called 'Scotland First' for Alastair McDonald 1970 which included 'The Declaration of Arbroath (1320)', 'Singin the Booze'.
I also wrote 'Seven Deadly Sins' and two extra verses for the Burns song 'Tibbie Dunbar', both sung by The Dubliners.
I produced an LP for Jimmie Macgregor and Robin Hall plus a single for Robin. I produced and wrote some songs for Unity Creates Strength, an LP to support the Upper Clyde Shipbuilders who had a work-in. I also set music to and ammended dozens of Scottish folk songs over the years. I produced LPs for other Scottish Folksingers and outside of the Folk circle, I produced two LPs for Kenny Ball and his Jazzmen and various other club 'acts' including Little and Large.
My piece de resistance is that I found the Nolan Sisters in 1972 and produced their first LP!!
I'm afraid I cannot list everything but hope that's enough to go on with!
Cheers, Jim McLean

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Hush, hush time to be sleeping
From: Big Mick
Date: 07 Sep 02 - 03:20 PM

Thanks, Jim. I knew most of that, but I had know idea you found The Nolan Sisters. Congratulations. And thanks for sharing this information. I know it can be a bit embarassing, but it helps when folks know that they are dealing with first rate performers and writers. I have such respect for your work, most especially that which deals with the human toll paid in social issues. One of the reasons I love your work with regard to the Highland evictions, is that it educates. The Highland Evictions and the persecution of the highlanders is such an important piece of history. It is in these songs that we remember. And when we remember, it is harder to repeat. That is why the frame of reference is so important.

Congratulations on your body of work. May it be only the first act.

All the best,

Mick

Subject: Hush.....................
From: GUEST,Heather O'dell
Date: 23 Sep 02 - 11:00 AM

At the Kansas City Renfair I heard a song called hush, and I have been searching for the lyrics every since..... First Verse starts out as : Hush time to be sleeping , Hush dreams come a creaping, Dreams of peace and of freedom don't cry in your sleep bonny baby.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Hush.....................
From: GUEST,Heather O'dell
Date: 23 Sep 02 - 11:04 AM

I found it ......... It was listed as Don't cry in your sleep.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Hush.....................
From: weerover
Date: 23 Sep 02 - 11:36 AM

This is another of Jim McLean's songs, "official" title Is "Smile in Your Sleep". If you post a message on the current thread on John MacLean I'm sure Jim will see it: he has many copies of his own printed collection which has both the words and the music for this song.

Subject: DTCorrection: Smile In Your Sleep
From: Joe Offer
Date: 29 Oct 03 - 01:57 PM

Hi, Jim - I wanted to make sure we have the lyrics and attribution exactly right in the Digital Tradition. These are the lyrics Alice posted in the first message, with a few corrections. Can you look this over and tell me if there are any corrections needed in words, verse order, or spelling?
Is the word spelled "sheeling"?
Copyright date?
How to contact for recording rights?
Correct title/alternate titles?
Is the tune correct? click to play

Thanks a lot, Jim. It's a lovely song. Big Mick sang it beautifully at the Washington (DC) Getaway a couple of weeks ago.
-Joe Offer-

---

SMILE IN YOUR SLEEP (Hush, Hush)
(Jim McLean)

CHORUS
Hush, hush, time to be sleeping,
Hush, hush, dreams are a creeping,
Dreams of peace and of freedom,
So smile in your sleep Bonnie Baby.

1. Once our valleys were ringing,
With sounds of our children singing,
But now sheep bleat till the evening,
And shielings lie empty and broken.

2. We stood with heads bowed in prayer,
While factors laid our cottages bare,
The flames licked the clear mountain air,
And many were dead by the morning.

3. Where was our proud Highland mettle,
Our men once so famed in battle,
Now stand cowed, huddled like cattle,
And soon to be shipped o'er the ocean.

4. No use pleading or praying,
Now gone, gone, all hope of staying,
So hush, hush the anchors a-weighing,
Don't cry in your sleep, bonnie baby.


Words and music Jim McLean Published by Duart Music London 1963

---

This is the definitive version of the lyrics, including the corrections Jim furnished in the message below.
-Joe Offer-

---

This tune is from Jim's sheet music (http://ingeb.org/images/hushhush.gif): click to play

Subject: RE: Origins: Hush, hush time to be sleeping
From: Jim McLean
Date: 29 Oct 03 - 05:35 PM

Hi Joe,
Verse 3:
Where was our proud highland mettle,
Our men was so famed in battle,
Now stand cowed, huddled like cattle,
And soon to be shipped o'er the ocean.

Verse 4:
No use pleading or praying,
Now gone, gone all hope of staying,
So hush, hush the anchors a-weighing,
Don't cry in your sleep, bonnie baby.

Shieling is the correct spelling;
Words and music Jim McLean Published by Duart Music London 1963;
Aka Smile in your Sleep.
No problems about recording as long as credits are given. The MCPS and the PRS do the rest.
The tune is interesting as I have mentioned somewhere else. The version in your blue clicky is my version, published way back, but Barry Taylor sequenced this and called it the Mist Covered Mountains or Chi Mi na Morbheanna which differs considerably in the second part. I based my tune on The MCM but it is NOT the same as MMario found out when I pointed him to the correct tune. A bit confusing? Basically, your blue clicky is my version of the MCM tune but not the same as the tradional MCM.
Cheers, Jim

Subject: RE: Origins: Hush, hush time to be sleeping
From: robinia
Date: 30 Oct 03 - 07:51 AM

Re the Highland evictions and English cruelty, I quote from Arthur Herman's enlightening new (2001) book, "How the Scots Invented the Modern World" : "So many misconceptions surround the terrible 'clearing,' or eviction of tens of thousands of Highland residents by their landlords, that it is worth taking time to get the story straight.
   The most outrageous misconception is the charge that somehow the English were really to blame. In fact, the principal instigators of these mass evictions were the Highland chieftans themselves, and their Scottish farm managers or 'factors.' In fact, some of the aristocrats who were most sentimentally attached to the traditions of Highland culture, such as the Chisholms of Strathglass and Alistair MacDonnell of Glengarry, were the most remorseless evictors. In their minds, they had little choice. Faced by an increasingly competitive agricultural market, and the need to liquidate enormous debts . . . chieftans looked for ways to make the land pay." (p. 256)
    Nor were these Clearances the result of the defeat at Culloden, says Herman. Almost fifty years elapsed before the first forced clearings of villages and farms in the Highlands, though the same thing had happened earlier in the Lowlands (not to mention in England?). As he says, "landlords were responding to economic rather than political pressures . . . the Highland chiefs abandoned the old ways because it profited them to belong to the modern world. Their followers did not, because they could not." I.e., in the south, "the land was more fertile, the opportunities for alternate employment more numerous, and the culture not as self-limiting"; so "clearings" there did not exact as terrible a human price.
    Herman shows the human suffering without finding any easy scapegoats for it. He debunks the sentimental myths even as he writes, in all seriousness, "the True Story of how Western Europe's Poorest Nation Created [with some assistance, to be sure!] our World & Everything in It."   An inspiring story, full of historical ironies, that deserves to be better known. . . .

Subject: RE: Origins: Hush, hush time to be sleeping
From: robinia
Date: 30 Oct 03 - 07:58 AM

PS -- thanks for posting both words and music to this lovely song, which I''ve long meant to learn. Now I have no excuse!
             robinia

Subject: RE: Origins: Hush, hush time to be sleeping
From: Jim McLean
Date: 30 Oct 03 - 10:18 AM

Thanks for your kind words about my song, Robinia. In the 60s I wrote a few Highland Clearance songs for a 'themed' LP recorded by Alastair McDonald. There was no question of blaming England or even the defeat of Culloden for The Clearances. In one song I have the old lady Henny Munroe castigating Scotland for her woes. The whole affair was an economic one as mutton was cheaper than meat and was required during the French wars. After Culloden some of the captured Highland Chieftains who lived in London, sold 'their' land to English merchants to pay their debts, incurred in prison. Evictions began in the Sutherland estates in 1800, on land owned by an Englishman, George Granville Leveson-Gower, the Marques of Stafford, who married the Countess of Sutherland. He hired Scots, however, to do the brutal burning and evictions.
It was ever thus.

Subject: RE: Origins: Hush, hush time to be sleeping
From: Susan A-R
Date: 30 Oct 03 - 10:07 PM

Shores of Sutherland is a song which I've loved and sung. Thanks for penning such wonderful stuff.

Subject: RE: Origins: Hush, hush time to be sleeping
From: Big Mick
Date: 30 Oct 03 - 11:32 PM

Jim, I sang your wonderful song during my miniconcert at the recent FSGW Getaway weekend. You should have heard the voices of the gathered folkies singing the chorus back at me.....very powerful, with wonderful harmonies. The kind of moment that singers live for. I have loved this song from the first time I heard it. Congratulations, once again, on a wonderful tellin'.

All the best,

Mick Lane

Subject: RE: Origins: Hush, hush time to be sleeping
From: Jim McLean
Date: 31 Oct 03 - 04:49 AM

Thanks everyone.

Subject: RE: Origins: Hush, hush time to be sleeping
From: GUEST
Date: 22 Nov 04 - 08:57 AM

The song is a translation of a Gaelic song, in the English it is called Hush Hush Inessier, (not sure of the English spelling for Inisheer. The music is an ancient piping tune, known to many, again in the English tongue as Mist Covered Mountains.

Hush Hush Ineseer can be heard on ScotRadio, by the group North Sea Gas and is available from the same group at www.nsg.com or from Greentrax records at www.greentrax.com
Hope that helps.
Dave
Scottish Nationalist Television
TV SCOTS/ScotRadio
Bringing Scotland to the world
TV SCOTS http://www.electricscotland.com/tvscots/index.htm

Subject: RE: Origins: Hush, hush time to be sleeping
From: MMario
Date: 22 Nov 04 - 09:02 AM

Jim - do you ever feel like you keep talking, and talking and no one is listening?

Subject: RE: Origins: Hush, hush time to be sleeping
From: Jim McLean
Date: 30 Dec 04 - 05:09 AM

Hi Mario, I've just read this latest posting and couldn't agree with you more more!
I haven't heard the Gaelic version by North Sea Gas but I can assure everyone that my words are original and most probably the Gaelic version is a translation from my English. I wrote it around 1963 and it was first published in book form in 1968.

Subject: RE: Origins: Hush, hush time to be sleeping
From: Sabine
Date: 30 Dec 04 - 08:23 AM

Think the biggest problem is that other people don't read but just write....

regards
Sabine

Subject: RE: Origins: Hush, hush time to be sleeping
From:
Date: 31 Dec 04 - 02:54 PM

Either that, Jim, or someone is singing Chì Mi Na Mórbheanna, and this fellow thinks that because it's the same tune, it's your song in Gaelic.

Oh well....

Subject: RE: Origins: Hush, hush time to be sleeping
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 31 Dec 04 - 05:24 PM

People like that always want there to be an "ancient Gaelic original," and it's no use telling them when they're talking rubbish. That kind of ignorance is invincible. I wrote a crushing little reply at the time, but didn't post it.

Chi mi na Mòr-bheanna was written (as Dùil ri Baile Chaolais fhaicinn) by John Cameron of Ballachulish (c.1856). The tune wasn't originally Gaelic; nor is it "ancient." It's an adaptation of Johnny's so long at the Fair, which itself probably isn't older than the second half of the 18th century, and may not even be Scottish.

Subject: RE: Origins: Hush, hush time to be sleeping
From: ranger1
Date: 25 May 05 - 08:05 PM

I have the NSG CD with this song on it (Spirit of Scotland). It's sung in English with no mention of ever having been in Gaelic. It is, however, listed as Trad. They've tweaked the lyrics a bit, but there's no doubt it's the same song. I'm happy to know where it really came from, it's a beautiful, haunting song that I fell in love with the first time I heard it.

Subject: RE: Origins: Hush, hush time to be sleeping
From: GUEST
Date: 26 May 05 - 01:40 AM

Is is possible to get the basic chords for this song? Much appreicated!
-Lenie

"Is it not strange that sheeps guts should hail sould from men's bodies?"
-William Shakspeare 'Much ado about nothing.'

Subject: RE: Origins: Hush, hush time to be sleeping
From: Jim McLean
Date: 26 May 05 - 04:38 AM

Once again can I point out that I wrote Hush, Hush etc AKA Smile in your Sleep. It is not Trad and is registered with the MCPS and PRS, Published by Duart Music. As Malcolm points out the tune is basically chi mi na morbheanna although the tune to that song is really only similar to that used for my chorus. My verse melody is entirely different, more akin to the pipe tune Mist covered Mountains of Home.

Subject: RE: Origins: Hush, hush time to be sleeping
From: PoohBear
Date: 26 May 05 - 10:24 AM

Serendipity! I was listening to a recording of The Corries on my way to work this morning and heard this song. . . one of my favorites of this particular LP.
Thanks for a beautiful - and thought provoking - set of lyrics, Jim.
Cheers
PB

Subject: RE: Origins: Hush, hush time to be sleeping
From: Moleskin Joe
Date: 26 May 05 - 10:53 AM

Hi
Can anyone confirm that the jig Mist Covered Mountain/Mist on the Mountain by Junior Crehan is the same tune? I am sure I heard somewhere that he made the jig, which is pretty well known, out of the tune.

Subject: RE: Origins: Hush, hush time to be sleeping
From: GUEST
Date: 16 May 07 - 11:38 AM

r u still looking for the chords to the song hush hush (smile in your sleep bonnie baby?? if so i have them

Subject: RE: Origins: Hush, hush time to be sleeping
From: Jack Campin
Date: 16 May 07 - 02:46 PM

The chords are in the GIF score that was linked to here.

Junior Crehan's tune has no resemblance to the Scottish one that I can see.

I find Jim's great song a bit of a liability in mixed vocal/instrumental sessions. I like playing the pipe tune version. It's got the same notes but the repeat structure is different. So when I try to start the tune, it gets hijacked by singers and I can't continue what I started - I'd prefer to move on to a faster piece after doing the tune in its straight AABB form once or twice, instead everybody goes AB AB AB AB.

Subject: RE: Origins: Hush, hush time to be sleeping
From: Jim McLean
Date: 17 May 07 - 06:42 AM

Jack, I wrote the song to the pipe tune (basically) with the chorus being the first part. As a song it works as ABAB etc. but I know what you mean as an intrumental as I was a piper. The traditional Mist Covered Mountains song is slightly different in the first part and the second part is entirely different although some people continue to link Chi Mi.. to Mist Covered Mountains (the pipe tune).

Subject: RE: Origins: Hush, hush time to be sleeping
From: GUEST,NS
Date: 22 May 07 - 06:26 PM

Hey ew to this but just happened by this site. Just wanted to say that i have heard it with the lines in verse 3 as follows:

Where was our proud highland mettle,
That once stood sae fearless in battle,
Stand cowed, thered like cattle,
And wait to be shipped o'er the ocean.

It has a bit more of a Scottish twang to it too! Just thought you'd like to know!

Subject: RE: Origins: Hush, hush time to be sleeping
From: Jack Campin
Date: 22 May 07 - 06:47 PM

"Thered"? As in hered and everywhered?

Subject: RE: Origins: Hush, hush time to be sleeping
From: GUEST,George
Date: 23 May 07 - 12:03 PM

Guest,NS hasn't been reading this thread as Jim McLean already posted this verse, albeit correctly.

Subject: RE: Origins: Hush, hush time to be sleeping
From: GUEST
Date: 23 May 07 - 12:25 PM

GUEST,NS, Jim McLean is the author of this marvelous story/song. You should read the whole thread. You will not be sorry that you did.

All the best,

Mick

Subject: RE: Origins: Hush, hush time to be sleeping
From: GUEST,me
Date: 05 Dec 08 - 12:47 PM

Ross Noble claims some writers are coruscating in their condemnation of the Clearances, seeing the process as an early version of "ethnic cleansing". However, Noble believes this approach over-simplifies the issues involved. Under the economic and social ideas of the several centuries involved, landowners and employers were generally callous about the "lower orders", (exemplified by the 1843 fictional character of Ebenezer Scrooge) and these modern terms such as "genocide" and "ethnic cleansing" reflect new sensitivities and social perspectives, which in this case would not apply, as most of the landlords were fellow Scotsmen.

Subject: RE: Origins: Hush, hush time to be sleeping
From: GUEST,Alba Nuadh
Date: 18 Sep 09 - 01:00 PM

So Jim,where are all the verses? We sing it locally are there are some you are missing.

Subject: DT Corr: Smile In Your Sleep (Hush, Hush) (McLean)
From: Jim McLean
Date: 18 Sep 09 - 07:32 PM

This is from Joe Offer's posting of October 2003 (with a slight correction).

SMILE IN YOUR SLEEP (Hush, Hush) (Jim McLean) CHORUS Hush, hush, time to be sleeping, Hush, hush, dreams come a creeping, Dreams of peace and of freedom, So smile in your sleep Bonnie Baby. 1. Once our valleys were ringing, With sounds of our children singing, But now sheep bleat till the evening, And shielings lie empty and broken. 2. We stood with heads bowed in prayer, While factors laid our cottages bare, The flames licked the clear mountain air, And many were dead by the morning. 3. Where was our proud Highland mettle, Our men once so famed in battle, Now stand cowed, huddled like cattle, And soon to be shipped o'er the ocean. 4. No use pleading or praying, Now gone, gone, all hope of staying, So hush, hush the anchors a-weighing, Don't cry in your sleep, bonnie baby. Words and music Jim McLean Published by Duart Music London 1963

Subject: RE: Origins: Hush, hush time to be sleeping
From: Jim McLean
Date: 18 Sep 09 - 07:34 PM

PS Alba Nuadh, those are all the verses I wrote. Cheers, Jim

Subject: RE: Origins: Hush, hush time to be sleeping
From: GUEST,Alyce
Date: 27 Oct 09 - 05:10 PM

I remember my grade three teacher, and now close friend, Sine McKenna taught us this song as part of our first music lesson. It has always stayed with me- its such a powerful song.

Subject: RE: Origins: Hush, hush time to be sleeping
From: GUEST,mulv
Date: 19 Feb 10 - 04:19 PM

Fabulous air and lyrics,which I've sung for many years now.I still feel very proud and enriched by bragging that I first heard Barbara Dickson singing this very song (with guitar)in our local Malvern folk club in either late '72 or early '73 and should still have the original taped recording somewhere in the house.This was,of course,when she were a 'proper folkie' (though she didn't have a beard !).She used lots of excellent material back then (e.g. Archie Fisher's 'Shipyard Apprentice')and was clearly destined.

Just wondering - if Jim gets to read this - about the air for 3rd verse.Difficult to explain (since,though I can sing,I'm no musician)-but BD sang a slightly different air to the first two lines of that verse (than to any of the other verses) which,to fit the air/music scanned/sang as
Where was our proud Highland mettle o' men,
All once so famed in battle
etc (back to the same tune as other verses)

The tune change was also included in part of the original pipe tune.And the change just broke up the song to give it an extra 'lift' and catch the listener's attention even more.Has Jim or anybody else heard it sung in that sort of manner ? Or is that commonplace ?
Thanks for any help - and thanks to Jim for writing it in the first place.Of course,if Barbara Dickson IS reading this,she's quite welcome to comment !!

Subject: RE: Origins: Hush, hush time to be sleeping
From: Jim McLean
Date: 19 Feb 10 - 05:26 PM

I haven't heard Barbara's version but I've noticed some singers confuse my version of the tune with Chi Mi na Morbheana. I use, basically, the the pipe tune Mist Covered Mountains where the verse is different to the chorus and I have changed the melody occasionally to suit the mood of the words. The first recording of the song was in the mid sixties but I remember seeing Barbara Dixon in the Troubadour, London, about 1963/64 in the company of Anne Briggs when we all ran about together.

Subject: RE: Origins: Hush, hush time to be sleeping
From: GUEST,Betsy
Date: 19 Feb 10 - 08:04 PM

Jim thanks for putting up with the great disection of your wonderful song.
I read all the words ,but still, there was a part (I'm sure sang by Barbara Dickson) that went ......"Where are the men we call heroes".
It may well be my shitty memory or perhaps she alter or add a verse to a part of the song.
Nice to talk about a great song and thanks for adding all the backround .

Cheers

Betsy

Subject: RE: Origins: Hush, hush time to be sleeping
From: Jim McLean
Date: 20 Feb 10 - 09:14 AM

There is a version by the Fureys which pretty well mangles the song with sleeve notes saying "....English soldiers burnt down the houses while Irish defenders huddled like cattle ...".
The song is about the Scottish Highland Clearances and the victims were abused by their own people, Scottish factors for Highland lairds. The Duke of Sutherland, one of the worst 'Clearers' however was an Englishmen.

Subject: RE: Origins: Hush, hush time to be sleeping
From: GUEST,mulv
Date: 21 Feb 10 - 12:24 PM

Might better explain what I meant about BD's singing of the song by reffering to
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTdb6sEl0gI&feature=related
part of Mark Knoeffler show,amazingly.The first set is the Mist Covered Mountains - let's call it in 4 phases,A,B,C,A
A is exactly as the chorus was sung
B is exactly as verses 1,2 & 4 were sung
C is almost exactly how I recall verse 3 being sung
only all substantially faster than the youtube clip.

Subject: RE: Origins: Hush, hush time to be sleeping
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 22 Feb 10 - 04:10 AM

"Junior Crehan's tune has no resemblance to the Scottish one that I can see."
Junior's 'Mist Covered Mountain' is almost identical to 'Mist Covered Mountains of Home' but in jig time, although he said was never aware of the similarities.
Jim Carroll

Subject: RE: Origins: Hush, hush time to be sleeping
From: Jack Campin
Date: 22 Feb 10 - 06:26 AM

Almost identical?

  X:1
  T:The Mist On The Mountain
  M:6/8
  L:1/8
  Q:3/8=120
  K:Ador
  G|EAA ABd|e2A AGE|~G3 GAB|dBA GED|
    EAA ABd|e2A AGE|efg dBG|BAG A2:|
  a|age a2b|age edB|AGE G2A|BAB GED|
    age a2b|age edB|AGE G2A|BAG A3 |
    age a2b|age edB|AGE G2A|BAB GED|
    EDE G2A|BAG ABd|efg dBG|BAG A2||
  
  X:2
  T:The Mist Covered Mountains
  M:6/8
  L:1/8
  Q:3/8=60
  K:HP
  {g}  B3        {GdGe}B3  |{g}  f2         {GdG} f{gfg}f>ec|\
  {g}  A3        {GAG} A3  |{gcd}c>{g}B{d}c {gBd} B>{G}AB   |
  {Gdc}d3        {gef} e3  |{g}  f>ga       {cd}  c>{g}B{d}A|\
  {g}  B>{d}cf   {gef} e>dc|{g}  B3         {GdGe}B3       :|
  {g}  f3        {GdG} f3  |{gef}e>fa       {fg}  f>ec      |\
  {g}  A2{GdGe}A {gef} e2c |{g}  f2{GdG}f   {gef} e>dc      |
  {g}  B3        {Gdc} d3  |{gef}e>fa       {cd}  c>{g}B{d}A|\
  {g}  B>{d}cf   {gef} e>dc|{g}  B3         {GdGe}B3       :|

The strongest I'd put it is that Crehan's tune might be vaguely inspired by the Scottish one.

Subject: RE: Origins: Hush, hush time to be sleeping
From: Jim McLean
Date: 22 Feb 10 - 07:15 AM

Mulv, I can't play the YouTube version for some reason, but I will keep trying. The following is almost exactly the tune I use, the first part being the chorus and the second obviously the verse.

X:323
T:Mist Covered Mountains, The
L:1/8
M:6/8
K:Am
A3 A3|e2 e e>dB|G3 G3|B>AB A>GA|
c3 d3|e>fg B>AG|A>Be d>cB|A3 A3:|
e3 e3|d>eg e>dB|G2 G d2 B|e2 e d>cB|
A3 c3|d>eg B>AG|A>Be d>cB|A3 A3:|

(only the F is sharp)


This is almost the same as Jack's second tune, Mist Covered Mountains, as played as a pipe tune and is not the same as Chi Mi na Morbheanna as is sometimes claimed, the second part of the tune being different.

I can only see a VERY vague resemblance to The Mist on the Mountains but would not say they are remotely similar under any form of scrutiny.

Subject: RE: Origins: Hush, hush time to be sleeping
From: Jim McLean
Date: 22 Feb 10 - 07:46 AM

Mulv, I have listened to Mark Knopfler's version. He plays a,a,b but interestingly enough the first line of 'a' is actually of Chi Mi Na Morbheana while 'b' is The Mist Covered Mountains of Home, pipe version. The tune I use can be heard here, sung by Wendy Arrowsmith. She sings a few different lyrics but the melody is what I used.
Wndy

Subject: RE: Origins: Hush, hush time to be sleeping
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 22 Feb 10 - 12:26 PM

"Almost identical?"
Jack,
Sorry; I don't read music, but I have heard Junior play it on many occasions, even have several recordings of him doing so. I have have also heard the song. It sounds the same to me, but we might be talking about different songs.
Junior made the tune without being aware of having heard the song; but when the similarities were pointed out to a member of his family (a musician herself), she accepted totally that it was the same in different times.
Jim Carroll

Subject: RE: Origins: Hush, hush time to be sleeping
From: Jim McLean
Date: 22 Feb 10 - 01:43 PM

Jim,
If you listen to Wendy Arrowsmith on the YouTube link I posted then listen to this and no matter how you vary the speed, the tunes are not the same. Mist on the Mountain

and the title of Junior Crehan's tune is 'The Mist on the Mountain' not as you posted 'Mist Covered Mountain'

Subject: RE: Origins: Hush, hush time to be sleeping
From: Jack Campin
Date: 22 Feb 10 - 01:47 PM

Maybe what Jim knows as the (Irish?) song "The Mist Covered Mountains of Home" has a different tune to the Scottish "Mist Covered Mountains"?

You don't need to read music to use ABC. Copy one of the ABC tunes (everything from the "X:" line to the end), paste it into the box at http://www.folkinfo.org/songs/abcconvert.php , and hit the "Submit" button. You will get the box filled with staff notation: click in it and you can hear a MIDI of the tune.

Subject: RE: Origins: Hush, hush time to be sleeping
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 22 Feb 10 - 08:52 PM

"Mist Covered Mountain"
The title of Junior's tune is 'The Mist Covered Mountain'; that is what he called it when he first gave it to us back in the 70s and it was published under that title in the collection edited by his daughter Angela Crotty, released after his death (Martin Junior Crehan; Musical compostions and memories 1908-1998 - page 11). I have it in front of me as I type
It refers to Mount Callan, which we can see from our back window - Junior lived about three miles from here and we recorded many songs stories, tunes and a great deal of lore from him over the last 30 odd years.
Thanks for the tips for listening to the tune and for reading the ABC Jack and Jim - I'm having sound problems at present, but will listen to it when I get them sorted.
The song I know as 'Mist Covered Mountains of Home' is the Scots one, I'm pretty sure it was recorded by Jimmy Shand; may be wrong on this, but I knew it long before I met Junior.
I am happy to let anybody have a recording of Junior playing the tune.
Jim Carroll

Subject: RE: Origins: Hush, hush time to be sleeping
From: Jim McLean
Date: 23 Feb 10 - 05:32 AM

Sorry Jim, there seems to be many titles for Junior Crehan's song. This from Irishinfo
titles

I think we are discussing three melodies here:
1. Chi mi na Mòr-bheanna was written (as Dùil ri Baile Chaolais fhaicinn) by John Cameron of Ballachulish (c.1856). The tune wasn't originally Gaelic; nor is it "ancient." It's an adaptation of Johnny's so long at the Fair, which itself probably isn't older than the second half of the 18th century, and may not even be Scottish.(copied from a previous post by Malcolm Douglas)
2. Mist covered Mountains of Home; a pipe version of Chi mi but differs on various main parts of the melody, used by me.
3. Junior Crehan's melody in jig time which has various titles but is definitely not the same as either of the two above.
I agree with Jack that 'The strongest I'd put it is that Crehan's tune might be vaguely inspired by the Scottish one'.

Subject: RE: Origins: Hush, hush time to be sleeping
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 23 Feb 10 - 08:24 AM

All,
Just in case I was losing the plot I dragged out Junior's double CD 'The Last House in Ballymackea' where the tune appears on CD 2 as 'The Mist Covered Mountain', paired with 'Scully Casey's Jig' - again, I have no doubt that the two tunes are related. However, I am not a musician and don't read music, so I must bow to those with greater knowledge and experience than mine. I have done some work on tune comparisons related to research on the origins of the tunes MacColl adapted for his own songs, but that was somewhat limited.
Having said which, I just bumped into one of the directors of a traditional music school who pointed out that locally, the two tunes are accepted as being from the one source to the extent that they are paired in local sessions, the song air then the jig. He also pointed out that the comparison of the two is given as an example in an academic dissertation on the influence of Scots music on the Irish tradition (be happy to share the details off-line).
I don't know if piper Peter Laban is observing this - I would very much value his input.
Jim Carroll

Subject: RE: Origins: Hush, hush time to be sleeping
From: GUEST
Date: 23 Feb 10 - 08:32 AM

Having said which, I just bumped into one of the directors of a traditional music school who pointed out that locally, the two tunes are accepted as being from the one source to the extent that they are paired in local sessions, the song air then the jig.

The same thing happens with the song and jig "The Lark in the Morning", which are also totally different tunes.

Subject: RE: Origins: Hush, hush time to be sleeping
From: Jim McLean
Date: 23 Feb 10 - 04:18 PM

Jim, the time scale seems to be:

Chi Mi Na Morbheanns 1856.
Mist Covered Mountains of Home; Scots Guards Settings 1954.
Smile in your Sleep 1963 (my song using the Scots Guards settings .. almost).
Junior Crehan's tune First recording 1976 (according to Irishinfo).

If you listen to Junior's jig with Mist Covered Mountains in mind you could be forgiven if you associate the two but it's a case of Junior playing within the 'contour' of Mist Covered Mountains of Home, and only a few bars, set in jig time, although the chord structure is not followed and one would have to insert starting places etc., hence he has created a new tune. But no one,unless his ears are painted on, can say Junior's jig and Mist Covered Mountains of Home are the same melody.
Also to say that both tunes are accepted as being from the one source would assume another original tune, the source for both which is not the case.

I remember Matt McGinn asking me to write a song with him. Matt's idea was to take a well known tune say, the Highland Fairy Lullaby, and from that create Coorie Doon. I didn't co-operate but one can see that he created a different tune albeit from an established melody, THE source.

I would be interested to hear off line any comments regarding 'academic dissertation on the influence of Scots music on the Irish tradition' as you know this interests me. One point, which melody does your friend associate with the 'song air'? Chi MI or Mist Covered Mountains as they are not the same although often confused.

Subject: RE: Origins: Hush, hush time to be sleeping
From: Jack Campin
Date: 23 Feb 10 - 04:54 PM

"Chi mi na mor-bheanna" was not published at first with a notated tune, as far as I know - the earliest source for it I've seen (a book of Gaelic poems from about 1880) said to use "Johnny's too long at the fair". Since then the tune has evolved - probably the one we're most familiar with first saw print in a Mod sheet a bit before 1900, it's in the 1896-1912 volume of "Coisir a Mhoid". Anne Lorne Gillies, in "Songs of Gaelic Scotland", adds to the confusion by printing a version of the tune which mixes up the Mod's one and the pipe version - at least she has the decency to say what she's doing.

The least documented change is whatever happened between "Johnny's too long at the fair" around 1856 and the Mod's tune forty years later. They are more closely related than either is to Junior Crehan's jig, but nobody could confuse the two. The Mod book credits the arrangement to John Bell but doesn't say he wrote the tune itself.

Subject: RE: Origins: Hush, hush time to be sleeping
From: Seamus Kennedy
Date: 23 Feb 10 - 05:17 PM

And not to demean the thread, but Johnny's So Long At the Fair is the melody (or variant thereof) of the Seven Old Ladies.

This sort of thing goes on a lot e.g. Fáinne Geal an Lae = the Dawning of the Day = Raglan Road.
Up the tempo a bit and you have William Bloat.

The jig Donnybrook Fair slowed down to an air gives us Easy and Slow.

Anyway, great song Jim!

Subject: RE: Origins: Hush, hush time to be sleeping
From: Jack Campin
Date: 23 Feb 10 - 06:33 PM

Seven Old Ladies? There are only three in Britain.

Are Irish lavatories a lot bigger?

Subject: RE: Origins: Hush, hush time to be sleeping
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 23 Feb 10 - 07:57 PM

Can I make something clear - I am in no way implying that Junior plagerised the song - he was one of the most frankly honest people I ever met and would never do such a thing.
We recorded Ewan MacColl in the early eighties and asked him how he approached his songwriting. He said that when you were involved in song and music, after a while you subconciously remembered and mentally filed everything you heard. When you came to make a new tune you drew from what you already knew and produced something different but identifiably yours.
Junior, who was totally absorbed in his music, which was as much a part of his life as drawing breath, fits this description perfectly and I am convinced that any similarities to the song were totally due to this.
This, I think, fits in with what Jim and Jack said.
Jim Carroll

Subject: RE: Origins: Hush, hush time to be sleeping
From: Jack Campin
Date: 24 Feb 10 - 09:04 AM

Here for comparison is the "official" version of "Chi mi na mor-bheanna":

  X:3
  T:Chi mi na Mor-bheanna
  S:Coisir a Mhoid book 1, 1896-1912
  N:uses BarFly syntax for multivoice
  M:6/4
  L:1/4
  Q:3/4=60
  V:1 up
  V:2 down merge
  V:3 bass up         middle=D transpose -12
  V:4 bass down merge middle=d transpose -24
  K:GDor
  %
  % Chorus
  %
  [V:1] G3   G3  |d>GA G>FD |F3    F3  |A>GA G>FD|
  [V:2] D3   D3  |D>DD D>DD |C2D   C2D |C>DC D>DD|
  [V:3] B3   B3  |B>BB B>BB |A2B   A2B |A>BA B>BB|
  [V:4] g3   g3  |g>gg g>gg |f3    f3  |f>ff B>BB|
  %
  [V:1] B3   c3  |d>ef A>GF |G>Ad  c>BA|G3-  G3 |]
  [V:2] F3   F3  |F>GA F>CF |F>FF ^F>FF|G3-  G3 |]
  [V:3] B3   A3  |B>GF F>GA |d>cB  A>dc|B3-  B3 |]
  [V:4] d3   c3  |B>BA d>ef |b>ag  d>dd|G3-  G3 |]
  %
  % Verses 1, 3, 5
  %
  [V:1] G>GG G2G |d>GA G>FD |F>FF  F>FF|A>GA G>FD|
  [V:2] D>DD D2D |D>DD D>DB,|C>CD  C>CD|C>DC D>DD|
  [V:3] B>BB B2B |B>BB B>BB |A>AB  A>AB|A>BA B>BB|
  [V:4] g>gg g2g |g>gg g>gg |f>ff  f>ff|f>ff B>BB|
  %
  [V:1] B>BB c>cc|d>ef A>GF |G>Ad  c>BA|G3-  G3 ||
  [V:2] F>FF F>FF|F>GA F>CF |F>FF ^F>FF|G3-  G3 ||
  [V:3] B>BB A>AA|B>GF F>GA |d>cB  A>dc|B3-  B3 ||
  [V:4] d>dd c>cc|B>BA d>ef |b>ag  d>dd|g3-  g3 ||
  %
  % Verses 2, 4, 6
  %
  [V:1] G>GG G>GG|d>GA G>FD |F>FF  F>FF|A>GA G>FD|
  [V:2] D3-  D3  |B,3- B,3  |C3-   C3- |C3   B,3 |
  [V:3] G3-  G3- |G3-  G3   |F3-   F3- |F3   G3  |
  [V:4] G3-  G3- |G3-  G3   |F3-   F3- |F3   G3  |
  %
  [V:1] B>BB c>cc|d>ef A>GF |G>Ad  c>BA|G3-  G3 ||
  [V:2] D3-  D3- |D3   C3   |D3-   D3- |D3-  D3 ||
  [V:3] G3-  G3- |G3   A3   |G3-   G3- |G3-  G3 ||
  [V:4] G3-  G3- |G3   A3   |G3-   G3- |G3-  G3 ||

Subject: RE: Origins: Hush, hush time to be sleeping
From: Jim McLean
Date: 24 Feb 10 - 10:39 AM

Thanks for that, Jack. The Rankin family sing Chi Mi'correctly' to my ear. You can hear the difference in the first two bars and in the first line of the chorus as to that of the pipe tune Mist Covered, which is the setting I use.
I chose the pipe version because I felt it suited my verse to go up high when making an appeal rather than stay on the same not as in Chi Mi.
Rakin Family

Subject: RE: Origins: Hush, hush time to be sleeping
From: Jim McLean
Date: 24 Feb 10 - 10:43 AM

Sorry the clicky should have read Rankin Family. By the way there are other versions of Chi Mi on Youtube which don't use the 'official' version of the tune but mix it up with the pipe version, especially for part b, which I call the verse.

Subject: RE: Origins: Hush, hush time to be sleeping
From: GUEST,mulv
Date: 28 Feb 10 - 08:10 PM

Thanks for the clarification,Jim (Mc)
To clarify,Wendy's verses are as BD's THIRD VERSE (only)- clearly BD 'alternated' the airs between the two mentioned,so to speak.Also,Wendy's chorus is not as BD sang,either.Anyways,my original question has been answered,thanks very much.When I do sing this,I will stick with the BD version since it is what I *know* (got very used to this version after 35+ years !!) - but will of course acknowledge the lyrics.Hope that causes no offence to anybody and my curiosity has been well explained.But I know that the 'mixed' BD version works well.
Thanks to all who contributed - especially Jim for taking so much time to follow all this up personally.

Subject: Origin: Smile in Your Sleep (J.McLean)
From: mally
Date: 15 May 10 - 02:40 PM

Would I be right in thinking that this is about the Scottish clearances?

Subject: RE: Origin: Smile in Your Sleep (J.McLean)
From: Murray MacLeod
Date: 15 May 10 - 05:36 PM

you will find out all you ever wanted to know about the song on this thread

Subject: RE: Origin: Smile in Your Sleep (J.McLean)
From: Sandy Mc Lean
Date: 16 May 10 - 01:43 AM

Jim McLean is a fellow Mudcatter.

Subject: RE: Origins: Smile In Your Sleep / Hush, hush
From: Jim McLean
Date: 16 May 10 - 05:23 AM

The answer to mally is 'yes' (more commonly known as the Highland Clearances).

Subject: RE: Origins: Smile In Your Sleep / Hush, hush
From: GUEST,paul
Date: 01 Oct 10 - 03:28 PM

anyone got the guitar chords for hush hush

Subject: RE: Origins: Smile In Your Sleep / Hush, hush
From: Dave MacKenzie
Date: 18 Nov 10 - 06:22 PM

Tir nan Oran on BBC Alba covered Argyll this week, and the first song they did was "Chi Mi na Morbheanna" and how it was written.

Subject: RE: Origins: Smile In Your Sleep / Hush, hush
From: Gallus Moll
Date: 20 Nov 10 - 06:51 PM

Is there a book of Jim Mclean songs?

Subject: RE: Origins: Smile In Your Sleep / Hush, hush
From: Dave MacKenzie
Date: 20 Nov 10 - 06:59 PM

PS I didn't put a blue clicky for Tir nan Oran as it'll probably only be on the iPlayer for a week.

Subject: RE: Origins: Smile In Your Sleep / Hush, hush
From: Gallus Moll
Date: 21 Nov 10 - 12:57 AM

Is this programme repeated on a Sunday evening, i.e. tonight?
Think I saw it listed - --?

Subject: RE: Origins: Smile In Your Sleep / Hush, hush
From: Dave MacKenzie
Date: 21 Nov 10 - 03:33 AM

I don't think so, and it's only available till Monday at 21:00 GMT. The next (and last) episode is songs from Skye.

Subject: RE: Origins: Smile In Your Sleep / Hush, hush
From: Jim McLean
Date: 21 Nov 10 - 05:37 AM

Dave, I have heard the gaelic song "Chi Mi na Morbheanna" sung many times and always enjoyed its beuty. It illustrates the melodic difference to "Mist Covered Mountains", the pipe tune, which I used (with modifications) for "Smile in your Sleep". "Chi Mi na Morbheanna" uses basically the same melody for verse and chorus whereas "Mist Covered Mountains" is a two parter. The program was of course about John Cameron's lyrics, beautifully wedded to the tune which has already been pointed out to be a variant of "Johnny so Long at the Fair".

Big Gallus Moll, I produced a booklet of 25 Scottish Rebel songs, with music, in 1968 and still have some. Email me at [e-mail] and I'll see what I can do .... my attic is full of them! I had to print thousands to get a price I could afford.

Subject: RE: Origins: Smile In Your Sleep / Hush, hush
From: Gallus Moll
Date: 21 Nov 10 - 05:22 PM

Thanks Jim, have emailed you!

Subject: RE: Origins: Smile In Your Sleep / Hush, hush
From: Dave MacKenzie
Date: 21 Nov 10 - 05:37 PM

Hi Jim.

I assumed you knew the background. I put the link in for other people. The trouble I have with BBC Alba is trying to get programme listings. I get Scotland on Sunday and it doesn't mention them at all.

Subject: RE: Origins: Smile In Your Sleep / Hush, hush
From: Jim McLean
Date: 21 Nov 10 - 07:28 PM

Hi Dave,
I live in London but can get BBC Alba on Freesat .. a god send.

Subject: RE: Origins: Smile In Your Sleep / Hush, hush
From: Dave MacKenzie
Date: 21 Nov 10 - 08:11 PM

I get it on the iPlayer over the internet, but as I said, the main problem is getting listings of what's on. Usually I just have to trawl through every now and then.

Subject: RE: Origins: Smile In Your Sleep / Hush, hush
From: GUEST,mulv
Date: 25 Jan 11 - 09:20 PM

WELL - I Never !! Seems BD has found her roots and released a CD which includes this terrific song.....not heard it yet.....but all ears.....with the qualification that she has also put 'Jamie Raeburn' on the CD...and I've only as yet listened to her website blag....not heard 'Hush Hush'....but BD's version of Jamie R (on website) has changed since years back....and left me disappointed ...grieves me to say it BUT (a la website) it's over-produced and slower in tempo (which didn't impress me).Based on my old tape record,memories and what still spins in me head (AND entrance fee !)....I'll probably give her tour a miss,go and watch Worcester City FC and stick with the memories (or maybe not ! .....bloody assertiveness courses are not worth the fees...or are they ?...what d'ya think ?) She's still a singer and a half...but I fear that all her 'recent' background has 'uprooted' her.Shame !! But with her talent I'd have done exactly the same and become a professional footballer (OR...would I ?,the course lecturer laughed).Err...I'll see if the wife will buy us some tickets and then I can say I went 'invited'.I'm sorta undecided !
Seriously - won't go but might buy the CD for curiosity's sake....Barbara,thanks 'cos I didn't expect my love affair to last this long !

Subject: RE: Origins: Smile In Your Sleep / Hush, hush
From: GUEST
Date: 31 Mar 11 - 07:39 PM

Indeed Barbara Dickson does put Smile In Your Sleep on her new album Words Unspoken. Has such a beautiful melody. This version maybe too produced for many but I understand Barbara wants to take traditional music to a wider audience, so certainly you'd describe most of the album as accessible. No denying the quality of her voice though, she sings Will Ye Gang Love unaccompanied. Beautiful.

Subject: RE: Origins: Smile In Your Sleep / Hush, hush
From: Jim McLean
Date: 01 Apr 11 - 01:16 PM

I have just listen to a snippet of Barbara Dixon singing a verse from Smile in your Sleep. I wrote the song as verse, chorus, verse chorus and so on. Barbara sings the verse "We stood with heads bowed in prayer...." to the chorus melody. I am pleased when people honour me by singing my songs but why don't they get them right! The verse is sung to the 'high' part of the complete melody deliberately as it appeals more, a cry almost. The melody of the chorus is more relaxed, suitable for the lullaby part.
I just despair sometimes.

Subject: RE: Origins: Smile In Your Sleep / Hush, hush
From: GUEST,mulv
Date: 24 May 11 - 10:09 PM

Jim - I've not heard BD live or bought the album since the 'resurrection'(any more than I'd spent money to watch Man U or any other Prem Lge team at exhorbitant prices)...but I expect she sings it just like I have it in me head.....which is probably wrong by your reckoning of course....this might explain what I was talking about earlier....though I seem to recall the 'change' was on 'Where is our proud....men'.Anyways,still a magic song and lyrics...and now standing the test of time ! And that's a massive test ! Don't forget,I heard this song 30+ years back a la BD and it still lives ! If I was you,I'd take that as a real feather in me cap ! Ask B/hoven if he reckoned his music would be around in 200 years' time !! Actually,what pisses me off now,of course,is that when I warble 'Hush Hush','Jamie Raeburn','Bonny Ythanside' everyone will think that I've just knicked them off her latest album......forgetting totally 'Shipyard App/Westm'land/Her Father/International/Steamboat/Johnny etc' ...just all great songs from Fisher/Rafferty etc that she really did do really great justice to. Loved (rather than love) her ! And thanks for giving us all marvellous lyrics to a tremendous air !

Subject: RE: Origins: Smile In Your Sleep / Hush, hush
From: Jim McLean
Date: 25 May 11 - 06:45 AM

Thanks, mulv, but the song had been recorded correctly many years before BD recorded it. It has also been printed with the correct music. I am very grateful when people sing any of my songs but quite a bit of effort goes into marrying words to music and I just feel it is important to do a bit of research before singing any song.

Subject: RE: Origins: Smile In Your Sleep / Hush, hush
From: Gavin Paterson
Date: 03 Feb 16 - 03:09 PM

I have to say, Jim McLean if you see this, your name has cropped up all over the place in the past week or so.

I've been asked to sing this song so I came here to re-search it and found your name. I recently watched The Eskimo Republic concert from 1994 on Vimeo, again your name is attached to these songs. And I've been reading the Singing From The Floor book and there you are again!

Smashing song, thanks for making it.

Subject: RE: Origins: Smile In Your Sleep / Hush, hush
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 03 Feb 16 - 09:19 PM

I learned this lovely song from the DT version, which omits the second verse: I have since heard others sing the whole song. It was amended to include all the verses way up this thread,so could it possibly be revised in the DT to include all the verses?