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Lyr Req: Oro Se Do Bheatha 'Bhaile - Scottish

23 Feb 18 - 10:41 AM (#3907410)
Subject: Lyr Req: Oro Se Do Bheatha 'Bhaile - Scottish
From: JMB

Hi there. I tried doing a google search for a Scottish Gaelic version of this Irish Gaelic song. Is there one in existence anywhere? Thanks.


24 Feb 18 - 02:23 AM (#3907531)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Oro Se Do Bheatha 'Bhaile - Scottish
From: Dave Hanson

Why would there be a Scottish version of this old Irish song ?

Dave H


24 Feb 18 - 06:38 AM (#3907567)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Oro Se Do Bheatha 'Bhaile - Scottish
From: GUEST,RA

Why? Erm, possibly because of close cultural connections between Gaelic Scotland and Gaelic Ireland?


24 Feb 18 - 08:07 AM (#3907598)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Oro Se Do Bheatha 'Bhaile - Scottish
From: Dave Hanson

True but this is a welcoming home song, it even mentions the famous female pirate Grainne Mhaol, I'm pretty sure she was Irish.

Dave H


24 Feb 18 - 08:44 AM (#3907602)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Oro Se Do Bheatha 'Bhaile - Scottish
From: Jim Carroll

Seems to be a solidly Irish song, though it does have Jacobite connections
Jim Carroll


24 Feb 18 - 10:53 AM (#3907626)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Oro Se Do Bheatha 'Bhaile - Scottish
From: GUEST,RA

From what I can gather, the Grainne Mhaol verse was added to the original song (which mentions Bonnie Prince Charlie) by Padraig Pearse. I think JMB's original query is a valid one... although I don't know of a Scottish version of the song either!


24 Feb 18 - 01:36 PM (#3907649)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Oro Se Do Bheatha 'Bhaile - Scottish
From: GUEST

Eithne ní Uallachain sang, and recorded, a version I love : Óró

Not a Scottish one though.


24 Feb 18 - 02:05 PM (#3907655)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Oro Se Do Bheatha 'Bhaile - Scottish
From: keberoxu

I can only offer a negative confirmation, from a book in my collection.

Oro Se Do Bheatha Bhaile (fadas?)
is NOT to be found in
Malcolm MacFarlane (Calum MacPhárlain)'s
Binneas nam Bárd.
A Book in which the Poems, Songs, and Ditties of the Scottish Gaels
are Exhibited along with their Airs.
published in Stirling: Eneas Mackay, 1908.


24 Feb 18 - 04:48 PM (#3907701)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Oro Se Do Bheatha 'Bhaile - Scottish
From: GUEST,RA

Might be worth doing a search on the Tobar an Dualchais website (sound archive of the School of Scottish Studies)...


24 Feb 18 - 05:03 PM (#3907706)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Oro Se Do Bheatha 'Bhaile - Scottish
From: The Sandman

interesting what was Pearse up to?


26 Feb 18 - 08:20 AM (#3908072)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Oro Se Do Bheatha 'Bhaile - Scottish
From: JMB

http://www.tobarandualchais.com/en/fullrecord/47750/1

I found a parody called Lucky Wee Prince Chairlie which mocks Bonnie Prince Chairlie on the site you suggested RA. Thanks for the tip.

I have a background in Scottish Gaelic, but I have learned Irish Gaelic songs before. I just learned the original 1745 Irish lyrics and will be working on the Pearse version shortly.

I have sung songs such as Brid Og Ni' Mhaille and Amhran na bhFiann.

I know that there were some songs that were shared between Scotland and Ireland, and the original version I believe was a Jacobite version showing Irish support of Bonnie Prince Chairlie's campaign in Scotland.

Thank you very much RA for the resource site.


08 Sep 18 - 06:51 PM (#3949098)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Oro Se Do Bheatha 'Bhaile - Scottish
From: GUEST,Roythepict

The original air of this song was indeed a Scottish Jacobite war song. It was also translated into a French sing of the time as they were allied to Scotland at that time. Pearce reworked the song into original sender do breaths abhaile as a song for the Irish rebellion. The Scottish and French versions predate the Pearce version. I have been unable, so far to find the French version.


09 Sep 18 - 04:35 AM (#3949142)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Oro Se Do Bheatha 'Bhaile - Scottish
From: GUEST,kenny

So which "Jacobite war song" was it ?


10 Sep 18 - 03:30 AM (#3949372)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Oro Se Do Bheatha 'Bhaile - Scottish
From: Thompson

Grainne Mhaol wasn't a pirate, that's a myth. She was a merchant - and like every single merchant along every coast in Europe at her time, she did some smuggling.

Pirates were people like the mass murderer Francis Drake, who hijacked foreign ships and sold them and their cargoes for profit.

Bonnie Prince Charlie is a standard among 18th-century Irish songs as well as Scottish. Not a great place to put your hope for freedom - but more of a symbol.


27 Dec 18 - 09:29 AM (#3968465)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Oro Se Do Bheatha 'Bhaile - Scottish
From: GUEST,Miranda

This was a Jacobite song, albeit it was Irish. Not sure why there would be a Scottish Gaelic translation of the song.
There are many websites offering the original lyrics to the song (all in Irish), though there is just one video of the original on YouTube sung by a guy who studied Old Irish.

Despite the Jacobite movement being largely associated with the Scottish and the song's origins being in Jacobite history, I don't think there is a Scottish Gaelic version and I wasn't able to find one if I recall correctly.


28 Dec 18 - 08:13 PM (#3968599)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Oro Se Do Bheatha 'Bhaile - Scottish
From: JMB

I actually did find a Scottish Gaelic - Jacobite version a while back. I'll dig it up again and share it.


14 Feb 19 - 09:11 PM (#3976770)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Oro Se Do Bheatha 'Bhaile - Scottish
From: GUEST,ActiusAquila

Darach O Cathain does a good version of this song, but his is kind of different from the Clancy Brother's version (the more well known one)- when Darach last sings the chorus the second line is different.

Darach's Irish but maybe it's that version that's in Scots Gaelic? I don't know either Scots or Irish Gaelic, so I wouldn't know, but I've never really heard any difference in between several different versions of the song, except for Darach's. I myself could never find lyrics for his version, might anybody have lyrics?


15 Feb 19 - 07:20 AM (#3976831)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Oro Se Do Bheatha 'Bhaile - Scottish
From: GUEST,Miranda

What is it that Darach sings at the end, does anyone know?


15 Feb 19 - 10:44 AM (#3976878)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Oro Se Do Bheatha 'Bhaile - Scottish
From: GUEST

It translates "I would want more than one hundred milk cows". I don't know who added that. It's a reference to the narrator desiring freedom more than a fat dowry.