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06 Jan 99 - 09:26 PM (#52395) Subject: Skye Boat Song in Gaelic? From: George Seto - af221@chebucto.ns.ca I've had the above question asked of me before, and received an e-mail with this question tonight. Thought I'd pose it here too. Does anyone know of a version of it in Gaelic? As far as I can TELL, the Skye Boat Song was written in the mid-1800s to an old Gaelic air. I have found that that air MIGHT be Cuachag Nan Craobh. This is a song written by William Ross from the late 17th century, which translates as Cuckoo of the Grove. However, the tune is reversed - The first four lines are sung to the second half of Skye Boat Song, and the tune of the second half of Cuachag Nan Craobh is that of the first half of Skye. Or it is VERY nearly so. (I don't read music, but my friends who do say that is the case). Besides that, I have come across a copy of a recording by Rhona NicLeo\id (Rhona MacLeod), who sings a song called Siubhail A Bhirlinn, which is sung to the Skye Boat Song tune. HOWEVER I have been unable to make out the words to the song, and have not located the words. The title doesn't translate to that of the Skye Boat Song. Can anyone suggest a source for those lyrics? For the words to Cuachag Nan Craobh |
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07 Jan 99 - 12:52 AM (#52442) Subject: RE: Skye Boat Song in Gaelic? From: katlaughing Don't know for sure, but I wonder if Jean Redpath might've done this in Gaelic? It's one of my favourites, but I don't know it in anything but English. Good luck, katlaughing |
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30 Apr 03 - 12:15 AM (#943284) Subject: Lyr Req: Siubhail A Bhirlinn From: Felipa Since the Skye Boat song was written in English I don't expect there is a version in Gaelic (of course, someone may have bothered to translate it) But I am very interested in learning more about "Siubhail A Bhirlinn" |
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05 Apr 12 - 10:18 AM (#3334012) Subject: RE: Skye Boat Song in Gaelic? From: GUEST,mary The words to cuachag nan craobh can be found in any collection of poems by Uilleam Ros (or William Ross) It is a song of unrequited love!! |
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05 Apr 12 - 10:41 AM (#3334031) Subject: RE: Skye Boat Song in Gaelic? From: GUEST,leeneia According to this site: http://www.tobarandualchais.co.uk/en/fullrecord/15298/8;jsessionid=31F6CDC0900025F87B85612E99E0D6EC William Ross was born in 1762. It must be an error above that "Cuckoo of the Grove" is late 17th Century. Late 18th Century is probably right. It's a nice little tune, but for me it's ruined by association with Jacobite sentimentality. Grrr - hate that stuff! |
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05 Apr 12 - 12:46 PM (#3334080) Subject: RE: Skye Boat Song in Gaelic? From: Nick Perhaps you could message Paul Arrowsmith who is currently on Skye with his wife who is on a Gaelic singing course. Someone might know! |
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05 Apr 12 - 01:22 PM (#3334091) Subject: RE: Skye Boat Song in Gaelic? From: GUEST,Banjman Paul Arrowsmith here. I'll get Wendy to ask her tutor tomorrow. Watch this space! |
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06 Apr 12 - 12:15 PM (#3334546) Subject: RE: Skye Boat Song in Gaelic? From: GUEST,Banjiman away from home I spoke to Christine Primrose abot this today (and she WOULD know - she teaches Gaelic song at Sabhal Mor Ostaig - The Gaelic College on Skye). There is no Gaelic translation of The Skye Boat song available. Paul |
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15 Mar 18 - 11:38 AM (#3911206) Subject: RE: Skye Boat Song in Gaelic? From: GUEST,Joe McNicholas In the nineteenth century, the boatmen ferrying people across Loch Coruisk on the Isle of Skye used to sing traditional Gaelic songs. One passenger(Anne McLeod) was particularly taken by a song called "A Chuachag nan Craobh" (To the cuckoo in the trees). She did not speak Gaelic but was a musician and memorized the tune. In the 1870's Sir Harold Bolton put English words to her tune. He used the story of Bonnie Prince Charlie fleeing after the battle of Culloden. Charlie was half starved when Flora McDonald disguised him in female clothes as her maid when she smuggled him to the Isle of Skye on 12 July 1746. The Gaelic song was about a young man bemoaning rejection by one Marion Ross of Stornaway, Harris. (Harris is the Isle just north of Skye) The words of the original Gaelic song can be found here. http://www.bbc.co.uk/alba/oran/orain/cuachag_nan_craobh/ Scottish Gaelic and Irish Gaelic are the same language but spellings can be different so translation apps may struggle with this as they tend to use Irish spellings. Flora's story is here. http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/resources/jacobite-1745/flora-macdonald/ |
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15 Mar 18 - 12:03 PM (#3911210) Subject: RE: Skye Boat Song in Gaelic? From: Lighter The only tune of "A Chuachag nan Craobh" that I've seen is hard to recognize as "Skye Boat Song" - though there is a similarity. Where is an early printing of "Cuachag" to the "Skye" tune - or at least something close to it? |
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18 Mar 18 - 08:51 AM (#3911641) Subject: RE: Skye Boat Song in Gaelic? From: Felipa Joe McNicholas - Irish and Scottish Gaelic have diverged in more than spelling. There are differences in grammar and in vocabulary - greater differences than there are between the 3 main dialects of Irish, though I agree that the two languages are closely related. As for automated translations the ones that I've seen for Irish to English are crap. I have a reasonable command of Irish (and somewhat less of Scottish Gaelic, which I did study formally but don't use much)and I find the translations are no help to me, that it is easier to translate from the original without trying to get a headstart with the likes of google translate. Thanks for the story of how Howard Bolton derived the air for the Skye Boat Song. I wouldn't be surprised if someone has translated the verses from English to Gaelic by now. |
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19 Mar 18 - 03:44 PM (#3911912) Subject: RE: Skye Boat Song in Gaelic? From: Tattie Bogle Harold (not Howard!) Boulton (sp)! And a Lord to boot! He also wrote the Loch Tay Boat song (had a thing about boats?) |
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01 Dec 20 - 03:50 PM (#4081568) Subject: RE: Skye Boat Song in Gaelic? From: GUEST,seonaid I know I'm 21 years late but here's the best I know
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02 Dec 20 - 03:28 AM (#4081607) Subject: RE: Skye Boat Song in Gaelic? From: Jack Campin These made-up back translations of songs that history didn't arrange to have written in the right language are the musical equivalent of the fake mermaids that clever taxidermists used to sell to gullible wannabe antiquarians. Hebrew and Armenian have them too. Harmless until the myths take over. |
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25 Feb 23 - 02:39 PM (#4166137) Subject: RE: Skye Boat Song in Gaelic? From: Felipa this video on youtube gives the translation to Gaelic by Bear McCreary on screen https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJmny5Iy8gc the chorus: Seinnibh leam dàn Gu nìghneag mo chridh Nìghneag mo rùn 's mo ghraidh Faicibh am bàt' 'S e togail bho thìr Giùlan mo rìgh bho thraigh another video includes the English lyrics by Robert Louis Stevenson (who didn't like Harold Boulton's original, I read) and Gaelic lyrics attributed to Gillebride MacMillan https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w40xS4CCwt4 Seinn dhom an duan, Mun tè a chaidh air thìr, Saoil am bu mise i. Sheol i thar sàil, 's i chò faiteach na gràdh, ò chàidh anull thar sàil, Oiteag is stuagh, atadh is cuan, beanntan an uisge is na grèine. Gach nì a bha dhom math, Gach nì a bha gun smàl, Gach nì a bha gu math, A-nis air falbh bhuam. |
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25 Feb 23 - 02:46 PM (#4166138) Subject: Lyr add: Cuachag nan Craobh From: Felipa the tune of the Skye Boat Song is said to derive from the tune to Cuachag nan Craobh (the Cuckoo of the Tree) https://www.bbc.co.uk/alba/oran/orain/cuachag_nan_craobh/ see also the abc of the tune posted by Malcolm Douglas on 4 Nov 2007 at Origins:Skye Boat Song a discussion which includes alternative English language lyrics for the Skye Boat Song. CUACHAG NAN CRAOBH Uilleam Ros (aka William Ross) A chuachag nan craobh, nach truagh leat mo chaoidh Ag osnaich ri oidhche cheòthar? Shiùbhlainn lem ghaol fo dhubhar nan craobh Gun duin' air an t-saoghal fheòraich. Thogainn ri gaoith am monadh an fhraoich, Mo leabaidh ri taobh dòrainn Seo chrutha geal caomh sìnte rim thaobh Is mise gad chaoin phògadh. Chunna mi fhìn aisling, 's cha bhreug, Dh'fhàg sin mo chrè brònach, Fear mar ri tè, a' pògadh a beul, A' brìodal an dèidh pòsaidh; Dh'ùraich mo mhiann, dh'atharraich mo chiall, Ghuil mi gu dian, dòimeach, Gach cuisle is fèith o ìochdar mo chlèibh Thug iad gu leum còmhla. Thuit mi led ghath, mhill thu mo rath, Strìochd mi le neart dòrainn, Saighdean do ghaoil sàitht' anns gach taobh, Thug dhìom gach caoin còmhla. Mhill thu mo mhais, ghoid thu mo dhreach, 'S mheudaich thu gal bròin dhomh; 'S mur fuasgail thu tràth, led fhuran 's led fhàilt', Is cuideachd am bàs dhomhsa. 'S camlubach d' fhalt fanna-bhuidh' nan cleac 'S fabhradh nan rosg àlainn; Gruaidhean mar chaor, broilleach mar aol, Anail mar ghaoth gàraidh. Gus an cur iad mi steach, an caol-taigh nan leac Bidh mi fo neart cràidh dheth, Le smaointean do chleas, 's do shùgraidh ma seach Fo dhuilleach nam preas blàthmhor. 'S tu 'n ainnir tha grinn, mileanta, binn, Led cheileire, seinn òran, 'S e bhith na do dhàil a dh'oidhche 's a latha Thoilicheadh càil m' òige. Gur gile do bhian na sneachd' air an fhiar, 'S na canach air sliabh mòintich, Nan dèanadh tu, rùin, tarraing rium dlùth Dhèanainn gach tùrs fhògar. Càirear gu rèidh clach agus crè Mum leabaidh-s' a bhrìgh d' uaisle 'S fada mi 'n èis a' feitheamh ort fhèin 'S nach togair thu, gheug, suas leam; Nam bu tus' a bhiodh tinn dhèanainn-sa luim Mus biodh tu fo chuing truaighe; Ach 's goirid an dàil gu faicear an latha 'M bi prasgan a' trà'l m' uaigh-sa! |
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25 Feb 23 - 02:54 PM (#4166139) Subject: RE: Cuathag nan Craobh From: Felipa a recording of Cuathag nan Craobh sung by Máiri MacInnes, so you can hear how the tune differs from that of the Skye Boat Song. Though of course, tunes have variants, just as lyrics do ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=298ngsE8dTY |
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25 Feb 23 - 06:45 PM (#4166149) Subject: RE: Skye Boat Song in Gaelic? From: Dave the Gnome My old mate Adam, passed away many years since, resthis soul, used to sing the Mingulay boat sing in Gaelic after a few pints. The following day he would swear he didn't know it! |
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26 Feb 23 - 05:53 AM (#4166163) Subject: RE: Skye Boat Song in Gaelic? From: GUEST,henryp Sir Harold Boulton, 2nd Baronet composed the lyrics to an air collected by Anne Campbell MacLeod in the 1870s. (He also wrote the lyrics to Glorious Devon in 1905. The recording by Peter Dawson in 1929 became nationally known through broadcasts by the BBC.) Alternative lyrics to the tune were written by Robert Louis Stevenson, probably in 1885. After hearing the Jacobite airs sung by a visitor, he judged the lyrics to be "unworthy", so made a new set of verses "more in harmony with the plaintive tune".[1] 1. Mrs R. L. Stevenson. "Prefatory Note". In Robert Louis Stevenson. Poems. Volume I. p. 58. London: Heinemann, 1924. The visitor was Elizabeth Anne Ferrier who stayed with Stevenson in June 1885 (Robert Louis Stevenson. Letters, Volume V. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1995). Wikipedia |