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04 Nov 03 - 03:32 PM (#1047886) Subject: Origins: Gaelic Verse in Burning of Auchindoun From: Fi Hi there, I've been singing a version of the Burning of Auchindoun which has a first and last verse as follows: "When will my love come to me Over land and over sea Will he be the one for me Oh decko decko dandy Halamachadoo hoo-ra-bhi Oh hoo-rabha-hi-na, hoo-rabha hin Halamachadoo hoo-ra-bhi Oh decko decko dandy" Does anyone know the origins of this verse? Is the middle bit Gaelic? If so, what does it mean? Also, in the main verse, there are two old English words, Crouse, which means courage and crawing... anyone know a meaning for crawing? The lines are: "Crawing, crawing, for a' your crouse a'crawin' Ye burnt your crop an' tint your wings an hour before the dawning" I can't quite make sense of these last lines in context with the rest of the song. Thanks Fiona |
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04 Nov 03 - 04:27 PM (#1047927) Subject: RE: Origins: Gaelic Verse in Burning of Auchindoun From: Jim McLean I've never heard any Gaelic verses to this song and I understand from the only two verses I know that Willie MacIntosh decided to burn Huntly's house, Auchendoun, irrespective as to what might happen to him. Someone (McIntosh?) is saying '..for all your bold boasting, you've burnt your crop and lost your wing ..', using a bird as an analogy. I suppose because McIntosh hated Huntly so much he's revelling in revenge? I don't know the story behind this song but I'm sure someone will post it. |
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04 Nov 03 - 04:37 PM (#1047936) Subject: RE: Origins: Gaelic Verse in Burning of Auchindoun From: Malcolm Douglas That extra bit doesn't belong to Willie MacIntosh (Auchindoun) at all, but was grafted onto it by some band called Gallowglass, of whom I know nothing (there seem to have been several groups or bands by that name). According to the Cantaria website, they got it off a record made by another obscure group, The Wallace Clan. No useful information is given, but the lyric is quoted. It looks to be a children's song, and has a different tune. The Burning of Auchindoun tune was popularised by Ewan MacColl, who reckoned to have got it from his father, William Miller. Not Gaelic as such, I think, but Gaelic-style vocables (meaningless syllables used in singing). "Crawing" is the same word as "crowing". |
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05 Nov 03 - 09:13 AM (#1048381) Subject: RE: Origins: Gaelic Verse in Burning of Auchindoun From: GUEST Gallowglass..I have never heard of the band..but I love the word..dosen't it mean a spy or a traitor..if it does, it seems an odd name for a band. |
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05 Nov 03 - 09:21 AM (#1048389) Subject: RE: Origins: Gaelic Verse in Burning of Auchindoun From: Jim McLean Guest, don't you mean 'grass' as in snake in the grass. I suspect Gallowglass is a fictional word as glas is a colour in Gaelic. |
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05 Nov 03 - 09:46 AM (#1048406) Subject: RE: Origins: Gaelic Verse in Burning of Auchindoun From: GUEST,Davetnova Gallowglass comes from the gaelic galloglaigh (meaning foreign soldier) they were Scots/Irish mercenaries in 10th /11th century |
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05 Nov 03 - 10:22 AM (#1048425) Subject: RE: Origins: Gaelic Verse in Burning of Auchindoun From: GUEST Thank you, when I was at school I read a book by that title and have always thought it a grand word. Thanks again for clarifying the meaning. |
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05 Nov 03 - 10:48 AM (#1048442) Subject: RE: Origins: Gaelic Verse in Burning of Auchindoun From: Kevin Sheils There is a tune, often recorded, called "The Gallowglass" I think it's a jig, haven't got a copy to hand. Also a NE England tune called "The Gallowglass Rant" recorded by Willie Taylor, Joe Hutton and Will Atkinson available on the Voice of the People series. I don't know if it's a variant of the jig. There was also a well known Gallowglass Ceilidh Band in my youth. |
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05 Nov 03 - 02:42 PM (#1048579) Subject: RE: Origins: Gaelic Verse in Burning of Auchindoun From: Fi Thanks to all. I got the version of the song from Cantaria and it seemed like a graft with some Gaelic sounding vocables... my suspicions confirmed, just wanted to make sure I wasn't missing something. The graft makes it into a more substantial song and the whole works well with a bit of bodhran backing. Anyway, thanks for the contributions. I haven't managed to find anything about the band either. |
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05 Nov 03 - 05:57 PM (#1048690) Subject: RE: Origins: Gaelic Verse in Burning of Auchindoun From: Susanne (skw) A little more background in My Songbook, including a link to another Mudcat thread, Background to Burning of Auchendoun |
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31 May 04 - 07:58 AM (#1197568) Subject: Burning of Auchindoun chords From: GUEST,Agnieszka Szmur³o Hi Everyone, I'm from Poland, and I'm searching the web for 'Burning of Auchindoun' chords. I've already found notes. Can you help me? Plese, I'll be grateful (: |
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31 May 04 - 08:05 AM (#1197570) Subject: RE: Origins: Gaelic Verse in Burning of Auchindoun From: GUEST,James I do believe that Gallowglass is a real word and that it does mean spy or traitor. |
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31 May 04 - 06:58 PM (#1197943) Subject: RE: Origins: Gaelic Verse in Burning of Auchindoun From: Scabby Douglas I Googled for Gallowglass and this came up... I remembered it as being connected with Gaelic mercenaries, but couldn't be sure. The above site has a lot of information, some of which I would take with a large pich of salt, but it was only one amongst many that came back with the same general definition. |
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31 May 04 - 09:11 PM (#1198046) Subject: RE: Origins: Gaelic Verse in Burning of Auchindoun From: Uncle_DaveO "Ye've brunt yer crop" "brunt" means "burned", which doesn't take much imagination when you're dealing with arson. "crop". If you're crowing, you must be a rooster. A chicken/rooster has a crop as part of its digestive system. "and tint yer wings" "tint" is not color, as in English. "Tint" here is "lost" Looks like the rooster has inhaled fire and burned his stomach, and burned off his wings, "an oor before the dawnin'" For all his crowse (coarse) crawin' (crowing), the rooster got his comeuppance. David Oesterreich Dave Oesterreich |
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19 Sep 05 - 06:18 AM (#1566509) Subject: RE: Origins: Gaelic Verse in Burning of Auchindoun From: GUEST,S Chapman The graft section of the song (Hullamacakoo etc) comes from a song called the Island Spinning Song. |
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19 Sep 05 - 10:56 AM (#1566654) Subject: RE: Origins: Gaelic Verse in Burning of Auchindoun From: Malcolm Douglas Thank you. Island Spinning Song appeared in Hugh S Roberton's Songs of the Isles (Curwen, 1950) with an English text by Roberton from "original Gaelic words by Angus Robertson". The tune was described as "traditional Gaelic tune from Donalda MacLeod". |
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02 Jul 08 - 11:32 PM (#2379706) Subject: RE: Origins: Gaelic Verse in Burning of Auchindoun From: GUEST This has always been my understanding of the text with all of the written phonetic accent (to my Standard american english ears) removed, but not the slang. As I came in by Fiddichside, on a May morning I spied Willie MacIntosh an hour before the dawning Turn again, turn again, turn again, I bid you If you burn Auchindoun, Huntly he will head you Head me or hang me, that shall never fear me I will burn Auchindoun thought the life leaves me As I came in by Auchindoun on a may morning Auchindoun was in a blaze, an hour before the dawning Cawing, cawing, for all your crows cawing you burnt your crop and tint your wings an hour before the dawning |
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03 Jul 08 - 07:52 AM (#2379899) Subject: RE: Origins: Gaelic Verse in Burning of Auchindoun From: pavane |
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03 Jul 08 - 07:56 AM (#2379902) Subject: RE: Origins: Gaelic Verse in Burning of Auchindoun From: pavane It seems to have lost my typing. Here we go again: I always thought it was ?taen't (Taken to?) your wings, i.e. flew away. Seems to make more sense to me, if you had just burned the place down. |
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03 Jul 08 - 07:58 PM (#2380575) Subject: RE: Origins: Gaelic Verse in Burning of Auchindoun From: Scabby Douglas Hmm - I think that "tint" makes more sense and is much more likely than "taen't". I've never come across a contraction like the one you propose, pavane. And "tint" in Scots, which is the language of the song, means "lost". |
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04 Jul 08 - 01:48 AM (#2380717) Subject: RE: Origins: Gaelic Verse in Burning of Auchindoun From: Malcolm Douglas That particular form of words is found only in the set published by Ewan MacColl. I don't have a copy of his Scotland Sings, but it's possible that there is some explanation given there. Bronson (III, 164) prints the MacColl tune with the comment 'Latterly, Ewan MacColl has recorded the ballad with a tune learned from his father and a text from Child's B, or Finlay [Scottish Historical and Romantic Ballads, 1808].' MacColl frequently expanded fragments learned from his father from print sources, and that is the case here. 'Learned from the singer's father in a fragmentary form and collated with verses from Child's texts' (sleeve notes, The English and Scottish Popular Ballads, IV, Riverside RLP 12-628 (A1)). Most of the text is as quoted by Child from Finlay, but compare the final verse from Child/Finlay: Crawing, crawing, For my crowse crawing, I lost the best feather i my wing For my crowse crawing. Whether MacColl's form of it was just as his father sang it or whether it was his own re-write, I wouldn't know. It's possible that he made some further comment on the subject elsewhere. The word is certainly 'tint' (lost), though. |
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04 Jul 08 - 03:56 AM (#2380755) Subject: RE: Origins: Gaelic Verse in Burning of Auchindoun From: pavane Fair enough, then |
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04 Jul 08 - 01:29 PM (#2381086) Subject: RE: Origins: Gaelic Verse in Burning of Auchindoun From: Big Tim Gallowglass is a word that I learned in early childhood as it is mentioned in 'Clan Connell War Song' (aka 'O'Donnell Abu'). The tune was popular in the 40s and 50s as a signature tune on Radio Eireann. The Gallowglass were mercenary soldiers in Ireland from the Scottish Western Islands and Argyll. It is defined in the Dictionary Of Hiberno-English as, 'galloglas, noun, a mercenary of Scottish or Hiberno-Norse origin; a heavily armed soldier in a chief's retinue. From the Irish 'gallóglach; gall = foreigner, óglach = army. There's a well known ceili band called Gallowglass. (sorry I don't know anything about the Auchindoun song!) |
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21 Jul 08 - 09:36 AM (#2394121) Subject: RE: Origins: Gaelic Verse in Burning of Auchindoun From: GUEST,Nóra There is a town called Huntly right next to Auchindoon, so I would surmise it it more than a revenge story. If the town is named after the man he must have been a big landowner, if the other way around he must have been a lord, either way, it smacks of rebellion rather than personal grudge. I would be most interested in the full story if anyone has it. Gallowglasses, by the way, were neither traitor nor spy, they were simply trying to earn a living in a dangerous trade, as poor people have been doing for thousands of years! We learned extensively about them in primary school history class as they played a huge part in shaping Irish history. |
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11 Apr 11 - 10:19 PM (#3133419) Subject: RE: Origins: Gaelic Verse in Burning of Auchindoun From: GUEST,Cece Borjeson HISTORY OF THE SONG: In 1592, the Earl of Huntley lured the Earl of Murray to his castle on pretenses, in order to slay him as a traitor to the crown. Murray's people (Clan Chattan, with whom Willie MacIntosh was aligned) declared they would seek revenge up Huntley for Murray's death. In the ensuring battle, 60 men of Clan Chattan were slain. Crows were a feared symbol of war, and would feast upon the dead after a battle. Legend has it that some Celtic warriors went into battle with grain in their pockets for use in the event of a large-scale slaughter ... when burial was not possible, the grain would be sown and the crops would engulf the carrion. Some highly ritualized Celtic burial mounds have been unearthed containing parts of chariots, battle gear, drink and food, toques and valuables for use in the afterlife. One unearthed ancient Celtic battle helmet featured a crow atop it, with hinged wings that would "flap" as the wearer sped toward his enemy - making the warrior appear most fierce and unearthly - quite a frightening sight. Some Celtic lore purports that warriors were known to exacerbate their own battle wounds, to make themselves look more courageous. What a strange and wonderful culture. My duo has been singing this 2-verse ballad for many years. The disonant harmonies are a real show-stopper, and will bring conversation noise in a performance space to pin-dropping silence. You can check out some MP3s of our tunes at www.ceceandruth.com Posted Cece Borjeson |
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29 Aug 18 - 11:40 PM (#3947011) Subject: RE: Origins: Gaelic Verse in Burning of Auchindoun From: GUEST,Reynardine My understanding was that a galloglas was a big, heavily-armed shock troop. In tbe main, CeCe Borjeson's explanation is the correct one. Barley was often carried as food by Gaelic fighters. If a man so provisioned were left to rot on open ground, or were too shallowly buried, the grain would often grow and indicate wbere his bones were. Hence, "The Wind that Shakes the Barley". |
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30 Aug 18 - 02:44 AM (#3947017) Subject: RE: Origins: Gaelic Verse in Burning of Auchindoun From: Jim Carroll GALLOWGLASSES They feature regularly in songs about the early Irish rebellions, particularly THIS Jim Carroll |
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30 Aug 18 - 03:48 AM (#3947028) Subject: RE: Origins: Gaelic Verse in Burning of Auchindoun From: Jack Campin I can't recall the details, but the burning of Auchindoun was one of a series of battles in a long-running vendetta. The destruction of Corgarff Castle (subject of a beautiful fiddle tune by Scott Skinner) was another one. |
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30 Aug 18 - 04:49 PM (#3947170) Subject: RE: Origins: Gaelic Verse in Burning of Auchindoun From: Thompson Gallowglass is from gall (foreign) oghlaigh (youth), and means troops from abroad - I suppose mercenaries really. I've never heard it used for a spy or a traitor in Ireland. |