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MacCrimmon's Lament
(Trad)

Song Lyric as sung by Dick Gaughan

Doun Coullin's peaks the night is sailin
The banshee crouns her note o wailin
Bit my blue een wi sorrow are streamin
For him that will never return - MacCrimmon

No more, no more, no more forever
In war nor in peace shall return MacCrimmon
Till daws the great day o dule an burnin
MacCrimmon is home no more returnin

The breeze on the braes is mournfully moanin
The brook in the hallow is plaintively mournin
Bit my blue een wi sorrow are streamin
For him that will never return - MacCrimmon

No more, no more, no more forever
In war nor in peace shall return MacCrimmon
Till daws the great day o dule an burnin
MacCrimmon is home no more returnin

Song Notes

Learned from the singing of the great Jeannie Robertson, this is a rough translation from the Gaelic lament, "Cha till e tuile".

According to legend, the MacCrimmon in question was Donald MacCrimmon, of the MacCrimmon family who, again legend has it, were the famous Skye family of pipers. He is supposed to have been killed at a small skirmish called the Rout of Moy in 1746 during the last Jacobite campaign.

Legend also has it that he had a premonition of his death and composed this tune the night before. The words are reputedly by his sister.

Recorded by Dick Gaughan

Also recorded by

 

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MacCrimmon's Lament