Cape Breton's Magazine

know what had happened to him, that he followed a car. He used to bark at cars sometimes--that he followed a car and she went looking for him and she couldn't find him. So Phillip looked for him. He looked for him on the shore, and he looked for him up on the hills, and in the woods, and everywhere, and he couldn't find him. He didn't know till long years afterwards what had happened to the dog. So my father made up this rhyme. Norman was in, Norman MacLeod one night, and father was lying down on the kitchen cot and he began to sing a song about Norman and the dog. And I can hear Norman laughing yet. So then the song became known. Phillip knew nothing about him till one night "Little Murdoch" MacAskill was at their place, at the Sweets--no, it was MacLeod's--it was Willie and Mary MacLeod's, and Murdoch sang Oran do Shep / Song to Shep Composed by George MacAskill, as sung by his sons John and Geordie 'S gur a Shep a tha mi 'g radh, Cu bu bhoidh - che bha's an ait', Le cu - san mol-ach 's * CHORUS: Hillein i u hlllein i, Hillein i u hillein i, Faill il eileadh ho ro i, Gu de nl ml mur faigh mi thu? 1. 'S gur a Shep a tha mi 'g radh, Cu bu bhoidhche bha's an ait', Le cusan molach's aodann ban, 'S gu bheil e'n drasd' air seachran. 2. Sheall mi air gach bruach 'us gleann, Aig a' chladach 's anns an allt, Cha 'n fhaca mi closach no ceann. No ni a bh'ann bha collach ris. 3. Ach ma'se's gun deach e suas Chi iad e's an Gut-a-Tuath, Mur nach deach a seachad luath, Mar mhadadh ruadh is cabhag air. 4. Ma 'se's gun deachaidh e air chuairt, Thig e dachaigh roimh Dhi-Luain, Cha deach sgath dheth sios gu tuath, "S cha chualas aig an aiseag e. 5. Sinfar'nrobhancuileantreun, 'S a bha math gu ruith na spreidh, Cha robh beathach riamh fo'n ghrein, A ghearradh beum 's a' bhaile so. mi mur faigh mi thu? 6. Sin far 'n robh an cuilean coir, 'S a bha modhail aig a' bhord, Cha'n itheadh e ach beagan feoil, 'S bha "gnogach" mu'n an aran e. 7. 'S ann their iad rium nach 'eil thu beo Gu'n deach luaidhe chur 'nad theoil, Gu bheil do chlosan aig na h-eoin, Na fitheach 's na rocaisean. 8. S'ann a Tormad tha a' gradh, Mar seo a thoir am beathach bas, Thoir am peileir gr'ann a' mhas, Sin n'uair dh'fhag an t-anail le. EDITOR'S NOTE: The vocables in the first two lines of the chor? us are based on Fergusson's Beyond the Hebrides. Danny and Joan Hathaway: "Oran do Shep," once popular at house parties and milling frolics In Englishtown, and known and sung In the St. Ann's Bay area, is now rarely sung. In its recent history the singing has ended at the 6th or 7th verse, sometimes omitting the 3rd verse, and minus the telling 8th and 9th verses. The burlesque and humour of the song has been lost and it is, when sung, presented as a bathetic eulogy to the lost dog, one of the reasons now given for not singing It. Though neither John or Geordie could explain the consistent extra beat (at the end of the second and fourth lines of the song), other people, including one woman over 100 years old, gave relevant clues and examples. These sources suggested one possible explanation for this interpolated beat • that It may have been used in milling to move the cloth on after one area had been worked for the 16 beats of either the verse or chorus. This beat could be lengthened, i.e. the fermata '' , but it was usually definite, defined by one beat of the hands on the milling table. Several similar ways of working the cloth during a milling Sin 'n uair fhuair an cailleach poc', Thilg i ann an closach bochd, Thilg iad e ann an sloe, Is chuir iad ploc is clochan air. frolic existed but they are no longer in use. Milling frolics are now usually song perfor? mances and have be? come less connected with techniques of actually fulling new cloth. Nowadays, keeping a steady rhythm with the beat of the hands is all important, the percussive accompaniment to the song • giving It an exciting lift, and the cloth is either constantly moving, or not moving at all. Several of my older informants were insistent that neither of these current practices Is the prop? er way to mill cloth. (EDITOR'S NOTE: For further description, see "A Milling Frolic on the North Shore" in Issue 21 of Cape Breton's Magazine, also reprinted in Down North: the Booli of Cape Breton's Magazine.) The Gaelic was confinned by John and Geordie MacAskill with help from the liner notes to the record "Tribute to the North Shore Gaelic Singers" and the book Beyond the H'rides. Thanks also to Evelyn Smith for help with the Gaelic. In both the liner notes and Beyond the Hebrides the version of the song is incomplete. LeBlanc Siding Ltd. Island Vinyl Siding Ltd. Authorized Dealer for Aluminum & Vinyl Siding * • Aluminum Windows & Doors Shutters / Softfit / Fascia / Awnings 109 Reservoir Road SYDNEY Professional installation of Aluminum & Vinyl Siding in Cape Breton for over 15 years. Free Estimates forR.R.A.P., N.S.H.C, & C.M.H.C. Programs, and all other siding Inquiries. Call Collect: SONNY MacPHERSON 539-4626 65