To Thread - Forum Home

The Mudcat Café TM
https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=792
19 messages

Lyr Req: Ny Kirree Fo Niaghtey / Sheep are Neath..

17 Feb 97 - 11:58 AM (#2308)
Subject: Gaelic:Kirree fo Niaghtey-English Lyrics
From: Lorraine

I am looking for the English lyrics to The Sheep are Neath the Snow a lovely gaelic ballad from the Isle of Man I have some of them and the haunting tune, but I need help to get it all together. ANy help would be great-where else I might look? I'm kind of new at this sort of thing. Thanks-

18 Feb 97 - 08:41 AM (#2340)
Subject: RE: Gaelic:Kirree fo Niaghtey-English Lyrics
From: Susan-Marie

There's a gaelic song archive at www.webcom.com/~liam/gaelsong/song.html This song isn't there but it might be someday. You might want to search through some of the discographies at Ceolas (celtic.stanford.edu/ceolas.html) to see if it turns up on a recording. Good luck.

12 Jan 99 - 09:29 AM (#53643)
Subject: Lyr Add: NY KIRREE FO NIAGHTEY
From: Philippa

Where was Bobby Bob when you needed him?

NY KIRREE FO NIAGHTEY (The Sheep are Beneath the Snow)
From - Peter Kennedy, ed. "Folksongs of Britain and Ireland". London: Cassell, 1975

Lurg geurey dy niaghtey as arragh dy rio
Va ny shenn chirree marroo, agh eayin beggy vio.

[REFRAIN:] O girree shiu my voch'llyn, as gow shiu da'n clieau
Ta ny kiree fo niaghtey, cha dowin as v'ad rieau

Shoh dooyrt Nicholas Raby, as eh 'sy thie ching
Ta ny kirree fo niaghtey ayns Braaid Farrane-fing.

Shoh dooyrt Nicholas Raby, goll seose er y lout
Dy row my shiaght vannaght er my ghaa housane muilt.

Kirree t'ayms ayns y Laggan, kirree-goair er Clieau Rea
Kirree keoi 'sy Coan -y-Chistey cha jig dy bragh veih.

Dirree mooinjer Skeeyll Lonan, as hie ad er-y-chooyl
Hooar ad ny kirree marroo ayns Laggan Varoole.

Dirree mooinjer Skeeyll Lonan, as Skeeeylley-Chreest neesht
As hooar ad ny kirreee beggey ayns Laggan Agneash.

Ny muilt ayns y toshiaght, ny reaghyn 'sy vean
Eisht ny kirree trome-eayin c heet geiyrt orrooo shen.

'Streih lhiams son my chirree, cha vel monney bio
Agh ynrican eayin dy chur y sluight fo.

Ta mohlt aym son y Nollick as jees son y Chaisht
As ghaa ny tre elley son yn traa yioyms baase.

Translation:
After a winter of snowfall and a springtime of frost
The young lambs were living but the old sheep were dead

- O rise up my shepherds, and go to the hill
The sheep are 'neath snow as deep as can be.

Thus spoke Nicholas Raby and he sick at home,
The sheep are 'neath snow in the Braid Farrane-fing.

Thus spoke Nicholas Raby going up to the loft
On my 2000 wethers be my seven blessings tossed.

There are sheep on the Laggan, goats and sheep on Clieau Rea
Wild sheep in Coan-y-Chistey that will ne'er come away.

The Lonan folk rose and so soon they did go
And they found the dead sheep in the Laggan Varoole.

The Lonan folk rose and the folk of Lezayre
And they found the young sheep in the Laggan Agneash.

The wethers were in front and the rams in between
And the sheep heavy in lamb behind them were seen.

How I grieve for my sheep for not many of them live
For there's only the lambs to put under to breed.

There's a wether for Christmas and for Easter there's two
And two or three more for the time when I'm through.

Notes - from John Matt Mylechreest, Thaloo Hogg, Lonan, coll. by Mona Douglas, 1929
Also recorded - Joan Owen, 1958: BBC 24012

Printed versions: JFSS (Journal of the Folk-song Society), London, 1924, p117-20 (four versions); Mona Douglas, Manx Folk Songs, set 1, London: Stainer and Bell, 1928, no. 5, p 13; Alfred Perceval Graves, The Celtic Song Book, London: Ernest Benn, 1928, p 170, from MS of J F Crellim of Orrisdale
John Matt Mylechreest of Lonan parish, Isle of Man, was a shepherd crofter. He lived with his sister Christian on a small hill croft, the Thalloo Hogg. John Matt had only one arm, having lost the other in an accident while working in the construction of the Snaefell Mountain railway, but he remained active and capable. After his sister died, john Matt lived alone and looked after himself till well into his eighties. He was a great storyteller and knew quite a few songs and dances. He knew all the places mentioned in "Ny Kirreee fo niaghtey" and would tell how the song was "made on" Nicholas Colcheragh, or 'Raby' as he was called, " before the Murrays [the Dukes of Atholl] came to Mann", by a young man living in Raby who was a wonderful singer and fiddler, and how after the great storm and the loss of his flocks Raby himself died, so the tale went. John himself had worked for most of his life all around Raby, and had lived for a time at the Laggan Agneash, a croft at the foot of Snaefell.

Unlike some Manx songs which are sung in both English-language and Manx variants, "Ny Kirreee…" is always sung in Manx.

Above notes are from P Kennedy - a bit confusing as 'Raby' is both a placename and personal nickname. The "Songs in Manx Gaelic" from the Kennedy collection were available as cassette FSB 007, from Folktracks, the Centre for Oral Traditions, Dartington Ciderhouse, Totnes, Devon TQ9 6JB, England. But that info is from 1975. I first heard this song on a Horslips (Irish folk-rockers) album of Christmassy songs. - Philippa

HTML line breaks added. --JoeClone, 18-Mar-02.

12 Jan 99 - 10:11 AM (#53651)
Subject: RE: Gaelic:Kirree fo Niaghtey-English Lyrics
From: annraoi

Fáilte romhat arais, a Philippa, An bhfuair tú na pioctracha ? Aithbhliain faoi mhaise duit. There is a recording of that song somewhere in my own archives - if only I could remember where I put it. Annraoi

12 Jan 99 - 10:40 AM (#53655)
Subject: RE: Gaelic:Kirree fo Niaghtey-English Lyrics
From: Philippa

Is cosuil go bhfuil muid ar line ag an am cheana. Ta me ag scriobh o Cholaiste Mhic Aoidh (nil se comh h-easca sinti fada a chur ar na litreacha ar an riomhaire seo). Bhi ar intinn agam philleadh ar an oilean an tseachtain seo caite, ach ta slaghdan trom orm agus ni mian liom an turas a dheanamh go foill. Chaith me an Nollaig i nGleann Cholm Cille. Thainig Alex ar chuairt 31/12 - o Chorcaigh (d'fhag se Ros a' Mhil mi na Samhna).

I am abusing this thread to communicate some private, but innocuous information, which all who read or are learning Irish are welcome to eavesdrop on.

12 Jan 99 - 05:00 PM (#53715)
Subject: RE: Gaelic:Kirree fo Niaghtey-English Lyrics
From: Bobby Bob, Ellan Vannin

Gow my leshtal dy vel mee cho anmagh as shoh. Cre'n aght haink y snaih shoh seose reesht? I was still a Mudcat virgin in 1997.

It was the custom to call farmers by the name of their farm. My grandfather, Thomas Alfred Corteen, farmed the ancestral homestead of Ballacorteen in Maughold. He was known as "The Ballacorteen", or Alfie Ballacorteen. He later moved to Bride and became The Ballahard.

The name given by Mona in the notes as "Colcheragh" is usually written Qualtrough, from Mac Walter. Nicholas Qualtrough farmed the Raby, so he was known as Nicholas Raby, or just "The Raby". As it happens, Raby is still found as a surname in Mann.

The lyrics in the Kennedy collection are as translated by Mona. Other than in Mona's version, both in Manx and English, I've never seen or heard the verse about "Streih lhiam son my chirree/How I grieve for my sheep" other than in this version.

In the Manx and the English as translated, you'll see that there were some sheep left alive, though I think he's said to have lost something like 2,000 in the snow. There's a quite different version in the Manx National Songbook (1896): not a translation but a sort of paraphrase. There are three verses which finish with the dramatic conclusion, "but the sheep were all dead". The Victorians loved the melodramatic flourish.

Funnily enough, I managed to mention the Horslips version in a thread yesterday about the song, When a Man's in Love.

S'quaagh yn theihll shoh, as s'quaagh adsyn t'aynjee.

Bobby Bob

06 Feb 99 - 10:48 PM (#57511)
Subject: Tune add: NY KIRREE FO NIAGHTEY
From: alison

Hi,

Thanks to a GIF from Philippa... here's the tune.

slainte

alison

MIDI file: KIRREE.MID

Timebase: 480

Name: Ny Kirree fo niaghtey
TimeSig: 3/4 24 8
Key: G
Tempo: 100 (600000 microsec/crotchet)
Start
1005 1 64 036 0284 1 66 030 0074 0 64 036 0075 0 66 030 0002 1 67 061 0478 0 67 061 0002 1 59 036 0478 0 59 036 0002 1 59 029 0478 0 59 029 0002 1 59 037 0478 0 59 037 0002 1 62 041 0478 0 62 041 0002 1 64 052 0365 0 64 052 0015 1 62 044 0100 0 62 044 0000 1 64 057 0478 0 64 057 0002 1 71 048 0478 0 71 048 0002 1 69 040 0478 0 69 040 0002 1 71 040 0958 0 71 040 0002 1 71 053 0358 0 71 053 0002 1 74 032 0118 0 74 032 0002 1 76 063 0478 0 76 063 0002 1 72 045 0478 0 72 045 0002 1 74 057 0478 0 74 057 0002 1 71 045 0354 1 69 038 0024 0 71 045 0094 0 69 038 0040 1 66 042 0448 1 62 029 0023 0 66 042 0335 0 62 029 0002 1 66 029 0118 0 66 029 0002 1 64 052 0314 0 64 052 0015 1 62 046 0137 0 62 046 0014 1 59 044 0478 0 59 044 0002 1 62 037 0478 0 62 037 0002 1 64 049 0958 0 64 049 0002 1 64 038 0341 1 66 044 0011 0 64 038 0113 0 66 044 0015 1 67 057 0358 0 67 057 0002 1 69 053 0118 0 69 053 0002 1 71 061 0478 0 71 061 0002 1 76 045 0478 0 76 045 0002 1 67 042 0341 1 66 035 0011 0 67 042 0128 1 64 048 0023 0 66 035 0455 0 64 048 0002 1 66 037 0478 0 66 037 0002 1 67 047 0329 1 66 044 0074 0 67 047 0050 0 66 044 0027 1 67 061 0358 0 67 061 0002 1 69 050 0118 0 69 050 0002 1 71 061 0358 0 71 061 0002 1 72 053 0118 0 72 053 0002 1 74 068 0958 0 74 068 0002 1 64 049 0358 0 64 049 0002 1 66 038 0118 0 66 038 0002 1 67 057 0358 0 67 057 0002 1 69 048 0118 0 69 048 0002 1 71 071 0478 0 71 071 0002 1 64 052 0478 0 64 052 0002 1 64 053 0358 0 64 053 0002 1 62 048 0118 0 62 048 0002 1 59 054 0478 0 59 054 0002 1 67 054 0478 0 67 054 0002 1 64 038 0358 0 64 038 0002 1 62 034 0118 0 62 034 0002 1 59 040 0478 0 59 040 0002 1 62 065 0478 0 62 065 0002 1 64 050 0958 0 64 050
End

This program is worth the effort of learning it.

To download the March 10 MIDItext 98 software and get instructions on how to use it click here

ABC format:

X:1
T:Ny Kirree fo niaghtey
M:3/4
Q:1/4=100
K:G
E21/4F3/4|G2B,2B,2|B,2D2E3/2D/2|E2B2A2|B4B3/2d/2|
e2c2d2|B3/2A3/4F7/4D3/2F/2|E5/4D3/4B,2D2|
E4E3/2F/2|G3/2A/2B2e2|G3/2F/2E2F2|G5/4F3/4G3/2A/2B3/2c/2|
d4E3/2F/2|G3/2A/2B2E2|E3/2D/2B,2G2|E3/2D/2B,2D2|
E6||

07 Feb 99 - 07:23 AM (#57531)
Subject: RE: Gaelic:Kirree fo Niaghtey-English Lyrics
From: Philippa

Thanks Alison I hope someone tells Lorraine to come back to Mudcat and look at her thread

08 Feb 99 - 09:42 AM (#57629)
Subject: RE: Gaelic:Kirree fo Niaghtey-English Lyrics
From: Philippa

I've got the current address for Folktrax Cassettes, an extensive collection of field recordings including 007 "Songs in Manx Gaelic" (C60 cassette œ7.60, plus 5% inland,10% overseas for post and packing). Ny Kirree fo Niaghtey is on this cassette. AllFolktrax tapes include information sheets. A Bespoke CD service is also available. Send a stamp or International Reply Coupon for catalogue to: Folktrax Cassettes, Heritage House, 16 Brunswick Square, Gloucester GL1 1UG
For specific queries e-mail: peter@folktrax.demon.co.uk OR phone +44 - (0)1452-415110/(0)1452-503643

02 Sep 99 - 08:18 AM (#110700)
Subject: RE: Gaelic:Kirree fo Niaghtey-English Lyrics
From: alison

Hi Philippa, yes I did post this one before..... I couldn't remember either. The tune above was from Peter Kennedy's Folksongs of Britain and Ireland, London ; Cassell &Co 1975. (I think that's what you wrote)

slainte

alison

02 Sep 99 - 06:37 PM (#110868)
Subject: Lyr Add: THE SHEEP ARE 'NEATH THE SNOW
From: Lorraine

Oh you guys are great! Thank you, thank you. I had found the Peter Kennedy version at the suggestion of a friend in Boston. But the history and/or background that Bobby Bob has here is really exciting. I sing a version that I heard on a tape done by Magpie Lane (an English group not the American group Magpie). Same tune as Kennedys' version-- I think.

THE SHEEP ARE 'NEATH THE SNOW

Today the deep snow fall
Last night a sharp frost
Oh the young lambs are living
But the old sheep are lost

    Oh arise you my shepherds
    And away to the hill
    For the old sheep are dying
    And the snows falling still

The master of Raby
Lay sick on his bed
With the cry of lost ewes
Lighting a fire in his head

Said the master of Raby
I am sick and alone
My sheep cry for succor
My men yield them none

I have sheep in the Laggan
I have goats at Clieau Rea
At the cliffs of Coan-y-Christey
My ewes go astray

Then out went the shepherds
In darkness and dread
And high on the mountain
They found the sheep dead

The whole flock lay smother
In a drift on the hill
And over their bodies
The snow gathered still

Said the master of Raby
My sheep cry in vain
And while I lay helpless
None headed my pain

And so they all perished
For want of your skill
And over their bodies
The snow gathered still

(Isle of Mann- original Manx Gaelic. Rec. Magpie Lane)
Ny Kirree Fo Niaghtey

You might notice in this version the sheep all died too. Wonderfully depressing. One of my favorites to sing-sometimes. Thanks again-Lorraine

HTML line breaks added. --JoeClone, 18-Mar-02.

02 Sep 99 - 07:16 PM (#110890)
Subject: RE: Gaelic:Kirree fo Niaghtey-English Lyrics
From: bigJ

Unfortunately the quality of the Kennedy recordings, despite being the only commercially available of Mona Douglas's singing, leave much to be desired. I would recommend either of the following cassettes as being of better quality recordings of the song in quaestion.

GOW ARRANE - 16 Traditional Manx Gaelic Songs performed unaccompanied by various solo artists.

MANNIN VEG VEEN - Arraneyn as Kiaulleeagh Tradishoonagh Ellan Vannin (Traditional Music & Songs of the Isle of Man) by Brian Stowell & George Broderick.

Both of those cassettes should be available from The Manx Museum, Douglas, Isle of Man.

04 Sep 99 - 03:08 PM (#111460)
Subject: RE: Gaelic:Kirree fo Niaghtey-English Lyrics
From: Bobby Bob, Ellan Vannin

I know I said that the version in Manx National Songs (1896) was a rather melodramatic re-write, but would the lyrics as they appear there be of interest?

Mish lesh firrinys,

Bobby Bob

04 Sep 99 - 07:55 PM (#111514)
Subject: Lyr Add: THE SHEEP UNDER THE SNOW (W. H. Gill)
From: Bobby Bob, Ellan Vannin

Well, I thought I would anyway, so here goes - this is the version found in Manx National Songs (first published 1896)

THE SHEEP UNDER THE SNOW
Words by W. H. GILL
Air, 'Ny Kirree fo Niaghtey'

The snow's on the mountains, the snow's in the gill;
My sheep they have wander'd all over the hill;
Uprise then, my shepherds, with haste let us go
Where my sheep are all buried deep under the snow.

The dogs in the haggard are barking aloud
At the moon, as she struggles from under the cloud;
Uprise then, my shepherds, with haste let us go
Where my sheep are all buried deep under the snow.

Take staves and take lanterns, put on your carranes;
We'll hunt in the mountains; we'll hunt in the plains;
Uprise then, my shepherds, with haste let us go
Where my sheep are all buried deep under the snow.

Then up rose those shepherds; with haste they did go
Where my sheep lay all buried deep under the snow;
They sought them with sorrow; they sought them with dread,
And they found them at last, but the sheep were all dead.

HTML line breaks added. --JoeClone, 18-Mar-02.

14 Sep 99 - 07:04 AM (#114077)
Subject: RE: Gaelic:Kirree fo Niaghtey-English Lyrics
From: Lorraine

Just found this and its great fun - thanks

27 Mar 13 - 01:04 PM (#3495555)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ny Kirree Fo Niaghtey / Sheep are Neath..
From: GUEST,Philippa

message posted today, 27 March 2013, on isleofman com news page

Local band raising money for IOM Farmers Benevolent Fund
by Manx Heritage Foundation

Manx band, Barrule, has the following message to share with you all at what is a difficult time for Manx farmers.

"In light of the recent heavy snow across the UK and the Isle of Man, we're giving you the chance to download a free copy of the Manx traditional song 'Ny Kirree fo Niaghtey' ('Sheep Under the Snow'), and donate money towards the Isle of Man Farmers Benevolent Trust."

For more info on how to donate and receive the track see (the barruletrio com pages)

27 Mar 13 - 01:06 PM (#3495556)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ny Kirree Fo Niaghtey / Sheep are Neath..
From: GUEST,Philippa

I had the blue clicky and all for the Barrule Trio donate page but wasnt able to post it (am using library computer and not signed in as a Mudcat member; I think that is the reason for the transmission error)

Found and restored your link. --mudelf

31 Mar 13 - 06:48 AM (#3496982)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ny Kirree Fo Niaghtey / Sheep are Neath..
From: GUEST,Philippa

You Tube video of Manx farmer and collie rescuing sheep buried in snow
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vq7zQEL1LCk

19 Mar 14 - 02:26 PM (#3610943)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ny Kirree Fo Niaghtey / Sheep are Neath..
From: GUEST

Thank you all for this wonderful information about this beautiful song. I have it played by acoustic guitarist Randal Bays. It's such a haunting melody, but very sad. It stayed with me after I heard it the first time. So, I became curious as to when it was written and by whom. Thanks again.