Lyr Req: pipe song/groovers song 'My Home?'

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: pipe song/groovers song 'My Home?'
From: Felipa
Date: 31 Dec 22 - 02:35 PM

https://bagpipe.news/2020/07/28/stories-of-the-tunes-my-home/


Stories of the Tunes – My Home
July 28, 2020

By Roderick Cannon

This well known air has had a varied history, in the course of which it has become separated into at least two distinct tunes, played on the pipes as a slow march and a jig. It first appears in Patrick MacDonald’s collection of Highland Vocal Airs (1784), in the section headed ‘Western Isle Airs’, with the title, Posadh peathair In bhain, i.e. “The wedding of John Ban’s sister”. Donald MacDonald prints it as a pipe tune in 1828, with the same Gaelic title, differently spelt:
[graphic of sheet music on the webpage, ‘Posadh Piuhar Iain Bhain”. The earliest known pipe setting, from Donald MacDonald’s collection of Quicksteps, Strathspeys, Reels and Jigs, Edinburgh, 1828, p. 60.A]

As a pipe tune, however it does not seem to have been very much played: the only other printed setting is in Glen’s Collection for the Great Highland Bagpipe (Book 3), published by J. and R. Glen about 1870. The Glen brothers owned the copyright of Donald MacDonald’s collection, and they seem to have copied the tune from the earlier book without much alteration. The Gaelic words of the song, an excellent comic ballad of 13 verses, are printed in the Celtic Monthly, volume 19, page 20. The chorus runs as follows:

I hu ro ho, i ho ro ho,
Cuiridh mi luinneag an ordugh dhuibh
I hu ro ho, i ho ro ho,
Air posadh piuthar Iain Bhain.

These words evidently go with the first part of the melody, and the narrative verses go with the second part.

The present popularity of the tune, and the name by which it is now known, derive from an entirely different song composed towards the end of the 19th century. According to Alfred Moffat, “the original words being unsatisfactory, Mr. Malcolm MacFarlane of Elderslie wrote new Gaelic verses to the melody at the request of Mr. Archibald Ferguson, conductor of the Gaelic St. Columba Choir, Glasgow. For the excellent translation of these verses Mr. Alexander Stewart. Polmont, was awarded a prize by An Comunn Gaidhealach”. The new song is of the sentimental type known in Victorian times as a “ballad,” and is also very good of its kind. The chorus in Gaelic runs:

Seinn hiribh o, hiuraibh o, hugaibh o hi,
So agaibh an obhair bheir togail fo m’chridh’,
Bhi stiuradh mo chasan do m’dhachaidh bhig fhin,
Air criochnachadh saothair an la dhomh.

Alexander Stewart’s translation is in Lowland Scots dialect:

Sing cheerilie, couthilie, merrie and free,
O this is the oor of sweet solace for me;
When wearied wi’ toilin’ out owre the green lea
I toddle wi’ glee to my ain hoose.

I have not been able to find out the exact date of the new song, but I should guess it was about 1890. The Gaelic words and tune were published by An Comunn Gaidhealach in the Mòd Collection of Gaelic Part Songs (Book 1, tune No. 1), having been set for competition at some time in the period 1896-1912. The English version is in Moffat’s Minstrelsy of the Scottish Highlands, undated but probably not long after 1900.

The new song must have been an immediate hit, and the tune was soon well known to pipers. The earliest written settings show unmistakable signs of having been learned first by ear, and written down afterwards. One setting by F, MacRae, in Henderson’s Tutor for the Bagpipe and Collection of Pipe Music, 1900, is in 2/4 time whereas all previous settings were 6/8. Two others in manuscripts about 70 years old, in my possession, are in 6/8 but contain some mistakes of notation which show that the writer had only heard, and not seen, the music of the song. A revised version of one of these is shown here:
[Ex, 2. “My Home’. From MSS. of Corporal Thomas Porteous, 8th Battalion Royal Scots, written in 1909. In the o 1 MSS. some of the notes were wrongly timed, and a bar line was out of place. The music is unpointed but the D gracenotes in bars 7 and 15 suggest that the preceding melody notes C and B were cut short.]

The printed arrangement in the Kilberry Book of Ceol Meadhonach, 1908, is different from the others but is claimed by the authors, in a note appended to the tune, to have been written down “exactly as sung”.

It is noticeable that although the English version was originally entitled, My Ain Hoose, the form My Home which is closer to the Gaelic “Mo dhachaidh,” has always been preferred by pipers. More striking, however, is the fact that with the transfer to pipes, the tune has changed its character and become a slow air. Patrick MacDonald’s original setting is marked “Brisk,” and this is in line with many other comic and bawdy ballads that are sung to a dancing rhythm. The later song is marked with the directions “Cheerily” in the Gaelic version, and “Allegretto” in Moffat’s setting. Also an anonymous writer in the Celtic Monthly (Vol. 3, p. 200) refers to “the spirited melody to which ‘Mo Dhachaidh’ is sung”. Henderson calls the pipe setting a march, but later publications, starting with the Army Manual of Bagpipe Tunes in 1934, have all made it into a slow march. It was played most effectively as a lament, at the funeral of Sir Winston Churchill.

Meanwhile, the original wedding song in quick time his not been forgotten. There is a fine rendering of it in duet by Donald Ross and William Burnett, on Waverley Record ZLP 2005. The tune is a kind of streamlined modification of the original, but still recognisable:
[The air of the song ‘Posadh piuthar Iain Bhain,’ transcribed by Roddy Cannon from Waverley Record ZLP 2005. The first line is the chorus, and repeated after each verse. The music has been transposed up from the key of E, for comparison with the other settings.]

and this version, or one like it, has been newly arranged for the pipes as a jig, by Iain MacKay, published in John MacFadyen’s second collection, 1973. Other variants of the tune are also known. The jig, My Wife’s a Wanton Wee Thing has the same concluding phrases, and one appeared under the title, John Bain Sister’s Wedding. This is in the Seaforth Highlanders’ Collection, 1936. It would be interesting to know what story lies behind the name. Finally, the modern four-part 6/8 march, Rab’s Wedding, bears a distinct likeness to the present one, especially in its first and third parts.

* From the February 1979 Piping Times.

a video clip of the tune being played at the UK Queen Mother’s funeral in 2002: https://youtu.be/hF7cyerSohU

Subject: Mo Theaghlach & Mo Dhachaidh
From: Felipa
Date: 31 Dec 22 - 02:21 PM

As Mudcat search engine hasn't been working, I give the link here to the thread in which the Irish Gaelic words, "Mo Theaghlach" (my family) are posted: https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=79301

According to https://thesession.org/tunes/3585 (My Home - I played the first setting and it is the same tune as Mo Dhachaidh, My Ain House, Mo Theaghlach)
"Played at the funeral of Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, said to be one of her favourite tunes."

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: pipe song/groovers song 'My Home?'
From: cnd
Date: 04 May 20 - 06:31 AM

Wiktionary says: (Britain, dialect, Derbyshire, dated) A miner.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: pipe song/groovers song 'My Home?'
From: Jack Campin
Date: 04 May 20 - 04:51 AM

Since it came from a lead mining area perhaps a groover was one of the trades involved in mine working?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: pipe song/groovers song 'My Home?'
From: EBarnacle
Date: 04 May 20 - 12:46 AM

If you go wilderness camping, a groover is a .50 caliber ammunition box lined with a heavy duty plastic bag. It allows you to take your waste products out and leave nothing behind. The name derives from the marks it leaves on your bottom.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: pipe song/groovers song 'My Home?'
From: meself
Date: 01 May 20 - 11:10 AM

What, praytell, is a "groover"?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: pipe song/groovers song 'My Home?'
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 01 May 20 - 07:56 AM

Well, answering my own request of 09.01.19, here are the lyrics of "Good Looking Widow" which is sung to the tune of "Mo Dhachaidh" (My Home). We have the tune in a dance set as a waltz, and I always have a wee giggle when we lay it, thinking of the song!
Anne Neilson kindly gave me the words a few months before she passed away, sadly: she used to song it with great gusto!

The Good Looking Widow                                             (the second verse is often used as a chorus)

I’m a good looking widow, no wonder you’ll stare
I’ve had four men already, as soon as you’re there
And oh for anither my hert it is sair
But I’ll get number five in the morning

An’ ye ken I’m good looking an’ handsome an’ braw
An’ though I’m a widow that’s naething at a’
An’ if some bonny laddie will tak me awa
Then I’ll be his bride in the morning

An’ the first man I had was a tailor ca’d John
He was a toff an’ a swell an’ a don
He’d a wart on his neck where his collar gaed on
That he used for a stud in the morning

The next man I had was a baker tae trade
He was a loafer an’ very low bred
I ne’er met wi’ a man half so fond o’ his bed
For he widnae rise in the morning

Number three – what was he? Oh yes, he was a man
He was some fond o’ me, but mair fond o’ a dram
So our married life didnae last very long
For he was still drunk in the morning

And the last man I had, a nightwatchman was he
He slept a’ day an’ so never wi’ me
I was just as weel single – I wished he would dee
Then I’d get number five in the morning

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: pipe song/groovers song 'My Home?'
From: GUEST,Peter Laban
Date: 30 Apr 20 - 09:14 AM

I have a (home) recording of Leo and Leon Rowsome playing it on the pipes, harmonising and full regulators and all that.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: pipe song/groovers song 'My Home?'
From: Felipa
Date: 30 Apr 20 - 08:27 AM

For an Irish-language song inspired by "Mo Dhachaidh", look up "Mo Theaghlach", which has its own thread on Mudcat. There don't seem to be many recordings of either song on line; it is better known as a tune or as "My Ain Hoose". Deirdre and the Downsider's rather fast singing of "Mo Theaghlach" can be found on youtube.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: pipe song/groovers song 'My Home?'
From: GUEST,Starship
Date: 29 Apr 20 - 06:55 PM

https://digital.nls.uk/special-collections-of-printed-music/archive/91380806

I don't know if that will be of use to anyone.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: pipe song/groovers song 'My Home?'
From: Felipa
Date: 29 Apr 20 - 06:22 PM

Folkways recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uvJGYjxhTZE

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: pipe song/groovers song 'My Home?'
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 09 Jan 19 - 07:07 PM

There is a humorous Scots song to the tune of Mo Dhachaidh, about a woman that has had a stream of husbands. It is full of puns and double entendres: would love to get the lyrics: I do know a couple of people who sing it, so could try the direct approach. I have checked the Lyric search to no avail, but it got me to this thread.

The chorus goes something like:
Noo I'm a fine widder and handsome and braw,
And ------------------, that's nae thing ava,
But if some handsome laddie would take me awa,
Then I'll be his bride in the morning.
(Or, e.g. - I'll get number five in the morning.)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: pipe song/groovers song 'My Home?'
From: Jack Campin
Date: 12 Oct 16 - 08:25 AM

"My Ain Hoose" and "My Home" are completely unrelated songs. I don't know of a Gaelic version of the first or an English version of the second.

Subject: RE: Mo Dhachaidh
From: Felipa
Date: 12 Oct 16 - 08:07 AM

that old recording cited above isnt very clear, but there is also a choral recording from the Mod on the same page (one woman's voice, but her name isn't given)

Subject: RE: Mo Dhachaidh
From: Felipa
Date: 12 Oct 16 - 08:04 AM

Mo Dhachaidh lyrics with sound recording, as song by Seasaidh Niven NicLachlainn

http://www.bbc.co.uk/alba/oran/orain/mo_dhachaigh/

The notes say that Seasaidh Niven NicLachlainn's was the first Gaelic voice heard on gramophone

Subject: Mo Dhachaidh and related songs
From: Felipa
Date: 04 Jul 16 - 04:50 PM

I was looking to see if the English language version, My Ain Hoose, lyrics are on Mudcat. Although I didnt find them, there is a 2010 message from Guest, Isabelle on the Scottish Wedding Songs discussion thread: "Apparently it's a very old air appearing in Patrick MacDonald's Collection of Highland Aire 1784. Malcolm Macfarlane wrote new lyrics in Gaelic, which were later translated by Alexander Stewart into "My ain Hoose", which is in various collections (incl. the Scottish Orpheus vol. 3)."
Scottish Gaelic wedding songs thread

Also on Mudcat you can find Irish language words to Mo Dhachaidh. Mo Theaghlach isnt a direct translation but is in the same vein. And in that thread there is another set of Irish language lyrics with the same chorus so presumably set to the same air.

Ballad song index http://www.fresnostate.edu/folklore/ballads/RcMDMAH.html also attributes Mo Dhachaidh to Malcolm MacFarlane,
DESCRIPTION: Gaelic. Our house by the ferry is surrounded with flowers and birds, protected by the hill from snow. My wife is "the star o' my hame ... the bairnies are singin'" We don't need riches.
AUTHOR: Malcolm MacFarlane [of Paisley (1853-1931)]
EARLIEST DATE: c.1908 (Moffat)
KEYWORDS: foreignlanguage lyric nonballad home wife
FOUND IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
ADDITIONAL:
Alfred Moffat, The Minstrelsy of the Scottish Highlands, pp. 48-49 in the soft-cover edition printed c.1960, pp. 92-93 in the hard-cover edition printed c.1908
RECORDINGS:
Malcolm Angus McLeod, "Mo Dhachaidh" (on NovaScotia1)
NOTES: The description is based on Moffat's translation by Alexander Stewart.

some sheet music at www.ceolsean.net/content/B2B/Book05/Book05%2021.pdf

Scots version by Alexander Stewart of Polmont begins "Cheerily, coothily, canty and free / Oh this is the hour o' sweet solace tae me; / When weary wi' workin' oot ow'r the green lea / I toddle wi' glee tae my ain hoose."

Subject: Lyr Add: MO DHACHAIDH
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 02 Aug 03 - 09:11 PM

Why not post it here? Copied from the link mentioned above:
(That site also has a midi file.)

MO DHACHAIDH

[Séisd:] Seinn hìribh o hiùraibh o hùgaibh o i;
Seo agaibh an obair bheir togail fo'm chridh':
Bhi stiùireadh nan casan do m'dhachaidh bhig fhìn
Air crìochnachadh saothair an là dhomh.

Seall thall thar an aiseig, am fasgadh nan craobh,
Am bothan beag glan ud fo ghealachadh aoil;
Sud agaibh mo dhachaidh, 's i dachaidh mo ghaoil,
Gun chaisteal 'san t-saoghal a's fheàrr leam.

Tha maise an àite ag àrdach a luach,
Tha'n t-sobhrag 's an neòinean a' còmhdach nam bruach;
Tha toman 'ga dhìonadh o shìon an taobh tuath;
'S mu'n cuairt air tha cluanagan àillidh.

Tha nàdur 'san àit' ud a ghnàth cur ri ceòl;
Tha'n smeòrach 'san duilleag 's an uiseag 'sna neòil;
Tha caochan an fhuarain a' gluasad troimh 'n lòn,
'S bidh Mórag ri crònan do'n phàisde.

Mo dhùrachd 's mo bheannachd dhuit, bheanag na loinn,
Tha'n fritheal mu m'fhàrdaich 's ag àrach mo chloinn;
Do chridhe 's do nàdur gun àrdan gun fhoill,
Ach coibhneas a' boillsgeadh 'nad bhlàth-shùil.

Air ciaradh do'n fheasgar, 's mi seasgair fo dhìon,
Mu'n cuairt air a' chagailt bidh aighear gun dìth,
Na pàisdean ri àbhachd 's am màthair ri snìomh,
'S mo chridh-s' air a lìonadh le gràdh dhaibh.

Air falbh uam a' mhòr-chùis, an t-òr agus cliù,
Chan eil annta air faoineas is saobh ghlòir nach fhiù;
Chan fhàgainn mo dhachaidh 's bean-chagair mo rùin
Gu bhi sealbhachadh lùchairt le bànrighinn.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: pipe song/groovers song "My Home?"
From: GUEST,Spike
Date: 19 Jul 03 - 10:11 AM

A GREAT BIG thanks to all for your efforts, and at least we've nailed the tune!! I think I'll just have to find Arthur and drag the lyrics out of him, cos it seems to be a localised version!!! Possible very local to the dales lead mining areas. Anyway, thanks again to all, and Noreen, I didn't take the hump, its me were talking about, my tongue is still numb from having it wedged so tightly in my cheek!!!!

H&K's to you and Roger

Cheers all

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: pipe song/groovers song "My Home?"
From:
Date: 18 Jul 03 - 12:32 AM

Thanks, Barry. Good to see you're still around.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: pipe song/groovers song "My Home?"
From: Barry T
Date: 18 Jul 03 - 12:20 AM

The version I have is titled 'My Ain House', sung beautifully by Moira Anderson. Credits given are: (Traditional arr. Knight) Plantagement Music Co Ltd 1975.

This is definitely the right (pipe) tune, not to be confused with an older traditional air titled 'This is no my ain hoose', which was published in the Gow collection.

But I don't think these are the lyrics you are looking for, Spike. As the title implies this is a sentimental song in 3/4 time about the composer's love for hearth and home. No 'groover' characteristics that I can detect!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: pipe song/groovers song "My Home?"
From:
Date: 17 Jul 03 - 11:44 PM

It's a popular Gaelic song. Neil MacEwan has it here

Mo Dhachaidh

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: pipe song/groovers song "My Home?"
From: maire-aine
Date: 17 Jul 03 - 11:33 PM

I know of a Scottish slow air called "Mo Dhachaidh" which translates to "My Home", but I never knew it to have words. It may have originally been a pipe tune.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: pipe song/groovers song "My Home?"
From: GUEST,BarryT at work
Date: 17 Jul 03 - 03:14 PM

I've got 'em on a CD somewhere. I'll upload them for you tonight.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Help Req
From: Noreen
Date: 17 Jul 03 - 08:58 AM

? Don't remember suggesting that you'd done that, merely that you take note of the replies people take the trouble to make to your requests.

People here are delighted to help where they can, but feel less keen to help when they don't feel listened to.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Help Req
From: GUEST,Spike
Date: 17 Jul 03 - 06:36 AM

Cos I didn't know what the tune was called, terribly sorry if i've commited some hideous crime

---

Not a crime, but people generally consider multiple threads to be akin to Spam. You can revive a thread by posting a new message to it, so there's no need to split a discussion into multiple threads.
Thanks.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Help Req
From: Noreen
Date: 15 Jul 03 - 06:11 AM

They were a while ago, but still in the archive, I found them by typing 'groovers' into the search function at the top of the page:

03 Dec 01

20 Dec 01

29 Dec 01

Sorry, I've never heard of it.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Help Req
From: Noreen
Date: 15 Jul 03 - 06:02 AM

Spike, this is the fourth thread you have posted with the same request.
As you were advised on one of your previous threads, it is far better to refresh the old thread to keep all the information together.

Subject: Lyr Req: Help Req
From: GUEST,Spike
Date: 15 Jul 03 - 04:31 AM

Hi all, its been a while since I asked, but can anyone supply lyrics to a song I NOW KNOW, is song to a pipe tune called "MY HOME", and is known to me as the groovers song (as performed years ago by "mad" Aurther Jackson), cos I can't find ANY references anywhere!!   Ta all    and Hi Greycap!!