Òran Chalum Sgàire

Thugas "Calum Sgàire" mar far-ainm air Malcolm MacAulaidh à Bearnaraidh ann an taobh an iar Leòdhais. Dh'fhàg e 'n t-eilean ann an 1851 gu dhol dh'imrich thall thairis thar chuain, 's gun fhiosam c'àit' an deach e no ciod e 'rinn e as a dheidh sin. Tha òran no dhà de na rinn e ri'm faighinn 'sna leabhraichean an là an diugh, 's e h-aon diubh sud ris an cleachdar "Òran Chalum Sgàire". Tha pairt dheth air 'fhoillseachadh ann an "Eilean Fraoich", am fonn cuideachd, agus tha na briatharan sin beagan eadar-dhealaichte bho na so leanas.

Calum Sgàire was the nickname given to Malcolm Macaulay from Bernera on the West of Lewis. He He lest the island in 1851 to emigrate overseas, and I've no idea where he went or what he did after that. One or two of his songs are to be found in (fairly modern) books, this is one of them which is know as "Calum Sgàire's song". Part of it is published in Eilean Fraoich with a tune, but the words there are slighltly different from the corresponding verses here.

[Fhuair mi brath bho Aonghas Domhnullach a dh'innseadh dhomh gur ann ann an 1855 dh'fhag Calum Bosta, agus gu'n d'rinn e tamh ann am Whitton (Quebec), 's gu'n do chaochail e ann an 1902; chan 'eil mi direach cinnteach an ann an an 1851 no ann an 1855 a dh'fhag e Leodhas.]

[Angus MacDonald sent me a note saying that Calum left Bosta in 1855, that he settled in Whitton, and died in 1902. I'm not sure whether 1855 or 1851 is the right date.]

It's not great poetry, but it's a nice song.

Translation

Oh my sigh is deep,
because I am far from my love tonight.
I am up North at Ceann Lochluinn [1]
and she is at Loch an Fhir Mhaoil [2]

She came away, she went home with us,
She made that trip to the Orkneys,
New sails and white masts [3]
The sea's tides and she with us.

Now I've got full command
To sail the vessel.
I shall steer her prow
to Macdhomhnull an Fhraoich [4]

When I'm seen on the horizon
My darling will say
Here's Cragam's [5] boat
with Calum Sga\ire in it.

As I was coming down by Barvas [6]
A gust of wind came on her from the south east
And I got her safely away
To tell the tale on land [7]

Although it's good to sail
It doesn't please me,
I would much rather be in Bosta [8]
Sewing barley in the field

When I got home
My mother was sleeping
and my father cutting hay
on the factor's land [9]

When I went up the rocky hill
I glanced back over my shoulder
And I saw the girl
going around to the cattle.

And when I went up the hillside
She threw down the pail and the fetter
and said "It's proud I am today
this is the object of my love."

But if I were at home
In winter and in spring
I would not let my sweetheart go
to [another] lad without a fight.

If I was by you
When you laid a hand on her
Then your family could
go to mend your head.

Notes

1.The End of Norway - North Cape.
Eilean Fraoich has "an Cuan Lochlainn", "the Norse Sea".

2. NB1826 on the OS map; head South from Earshader towards the middle of nowhere and when you're lost you've got there.

3. croinn is usually cross-pieces rather than the masts themselves.

4. "up to the MacDonald of Heather" - I guess it's a place, if so it ought to be in South Skye with a name like that, but it could be a
person.

6. Large town where the road from Stornoway to Ness meets the Atlantic.

7. "samhlaich" is an odd spelling of "shabhailich" I think. "ri earba" is "'g[a] innse" - earba can carry that meaning and they almost always substitute ri for ag in Lewis.

8. Bosta is at the far north of Great Bernera. There's nothing much there now (a graveyard, a beach, a car park) but there used to be quite a few people there.

9. Machair means fertile coastal strip, generally sandy grassland.

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