Seo òran ainmeil far a bheil maraiche a’ bruidhinn mun long aige mar gum b’ e a leannan a bh’ innte. ‘S e seòrsa òrain-ghaoil dhan bhàta-siùil a th’ ann, ‘s dòcha long dhubh, no tè le siùil dhorcha.  Seòlaidh e leatha dhan Ròimh ‘s dhan Fhraing, agus cumaidh e sùil gheur oirre gus an toir e a leannan  dhachaigh ann an deagh thriom. Agus cheannaicheadh e dhi às a bhùth am “pòrsan” a bhiodh a dhìth, prìs ann no às – ged a bhios e a’ smaoineachadh air ball-acainn seach ribeannan…

Sèist: Dhèanainn sùgradh ris an nighinn duibh,
‘n dèidh dhomh èirigh anns a’ mhadainn,
Dhèanainn sùgradh ris an nighinn duibh.

Dhèanainn sùgradh ris a’ ghruagaich
Nuair a bhiodh a’ sluagh nan cadal.

Dhèanainn sùgradh an àm dùsgaidh
‘N àm na siùil a bhith gam pasgadh

‘S ann Diluain an dèidh Didòmhnaich
dh’fhalbh sinn le Seònaid à Arcaibh.

Bha muir gorm a’ ruith fo cuinnlein,
‘s i cur still à grunnd an aigeil.

Riof ga ceangal ‘s riof ga fuasgladh
muir mu gualainn, fuaim is fead oirr’.

Null mu chaolas na Ròimh
B’ fheudar dhuinn am bòm a laiseadh.

Null mu chaolas na Fraing
Maide na làimh ‘s gaoth ga ghreasad.

Cha robh ròp a feum a splaidhseadh
Air mo mhaighdeann ri tighinn dhachaidh.

Dh’fheumadh pòrsan thighinn à bùth dhi
Ged a bhiodh e crùn an cairteil.

Ged a bhiodh e crùn an òirleach
Dh’fheumadh pòrsan dheth thighinn dhachaidh.

(Ceanglaichean ri tionndaidhean YouTube gu h-ìosal.)

+++++++++++++++

Making Merry with the Dark Lassie

This is a famous song where a mariner talks about his ship as if she were his lover. It’s a sort of love-song to his sailing ship, maybe a black-painted ship or one with dark sails. He’ll sail with her to Rome and France, and will keep a sharp eye on her to make sure he brings his beloved home in fine fettle. He would even buy from the shop the “fairing” she might need, cost what it may – though he’ll be thinking more of rigging than ribbons…

(Links to YouTube versions below.)

Chorus: I’d make merry with the dark lassie

As soon as I rose in the morning

I’d make merry with the dark lassie.

I’d make merry with the lass while the world was sleeping.

I’d make merry when I woke, and when the sails were unfurled.

On the Monday after the Sabbath we left Orkney on the Seònaid.

Blue sea was running under the stubble fields, throwing up jets from the seabed.

A reef being tied and a reef being loosed, sea round her shoulders roaring and whistling.

There around the straits of Rome, we had to lash the boom.

There around the straits of France, hand on the tiller and the wind chasing her.

There wasn’t a rope that needed splicing on my girl on the sail home.

A fairing would be needed from the shop for her, though it would cost a crown a quarter.

Though it would cost a crown an inch, a length of it would be heading homewards!

(Links to YouTube versions below.)

Tionndaidhean/versions on Youtube

Mànran: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRx9umS6O5I

Clannad: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fE3g7zFDE1M&list=RDfE3g7zFDE1M&start_radio=1

The Poozies: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qdXwN880j_A&list=RDqdXwN880j_A&start_radio=1

Traditional (òran-luaidh / waulking song): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOMpQvZ6i1E

Agus tha fiolm goirid fìor bhrèagha ann mu fhìor bhàta dubh is mun fhear a thog i. / And there’s a lovely wee short film about the fate of a real black boat and the man who built her: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pjX3m02-ro

Dealbhan/pictures:

Ariel and Taeping, tea-clippers 1860s, by J. Sutherland (my mother) after Montague Dawson.

The Reaper, Anstruther – traditional “Fifie” herring drifter, 1903.

The Harbinger, iron sailing clipper 1850s, by J. Sutherland after Jack Spurling