Gaelic lyrics in Sting song

Some years ago Sting wrote a song using the lyrics to Christmas at Sea, the poem by Robert Louis Stevenson. Here is an excerpt.

Thograinn Thograinn
Thograinn thograinn bhith dol dhachaidh
(I wish we were going home)
E ho ro e ho ro
Gu Sgoirebreac a chruidh chaisfhinn
(To Scorrybreck of the white-footed cattle)
E ho hi ri ill iu o
Ill iu o thograinn falbh
Gu Sgoirebreac a' chruidh chais-fhionn
(To Scorrybreck of the white-footed cattle)
E ho ro e ho ro
Ceud soraidh bhuam mar bu dual dhomh
(The first blessing from me, as is my right)

I know nothing about Gaelic, but the language looks fascinating. Scottish harpist Mary MacMaster sings these lyrics and the sound of her voice singing them is beautiful. To me Gaelic looks and sounds lyrical, mythical, ancient, complex, strange. I wouldn't mind reading something about it.

Hi barney67, and welcome! Gaelic is indeed all those things, and more. I think the best book to find out more about Gaelic is The Edinburgh Companion to the Gaelic Language, which you can find here:

http://gaelicbooks.org/index.php?route=product/product&path=59_82&produc...

I've given you the link to the Gaelic Books Council, but this book would also be available via Amazon and other online retailers.

And, of course, there's the wonderful world of Gaelic music. My personal recommendations would include singers Iseabail Macaskill, Julie Fowlis, Christine Primrose and Cathy Ann MacPhee - among others.

Enjoy!

If you were to translate this, would it be about the same thing? I'm curious about the first word being repeated four times. Why is that?

Thograinn Thograinn
Thograinn thograinn bhith dol dhachaidh

which someone translated to:
I wish we were going home

Yes, that's not a bad translation. The verb "togair" expresses a strong desire, or yearning. Repetition is used for emphasis, and this is the conditional first person, so you could also translate it as "I long, I long to be homeward bound" - think of Paul Simon's "Homeward bound, I wish I was homeward bound" in which the repetition of the words, allied to their important placing in the tune, conveys the strength of feeling.

The Gaelic song refers to the visit of King James V of Scotland to the court of the MacNicholls in the Isle of Skye in 1540. It's a waulking song, sung by women fulling tweed, which requires a strong rhythmic chorus, which also perhaps explains the repetition. These songs were often adapted from other songs. One can imaging the cloth being bashed against the board on each stressed first syllable of "Thog-rainn", which might only have been sung once in the original.

It's not "about the same thing", but has some of the same feeling.

Thanks. Fascinating stuff.

Hi, I'm looking at that song again to enter the lyrics on a web site. I wondered if someone here would listen to the song and judge the accuracy of the written Gaelic lines compared to what is sung on the recording, not to translate into English but to write in Gaelic as they are sung.

Here's a link for the song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJoW2iigvk0.

Here are the lyrics I have.

All day we fought the tides between the North Head and the South
All day we hauled the frozen sheets to 'scape the storm's wet mouth
All day as cold as charity, in bitter pain and dread
For very life and nature we tacked from head to head

Gu Sgoirebreac a chruidh chaisfhinn
E ho hi ri ill iu o
Ill iu o thograinn falbh
Gu Sgoirebreac a' chruidh chais-fhionn
E ho ro e ho ro
Ceud soraidh bhuam mar bu dual dhomh

We gave the South a wider berth, for there the tide-race roared
But every tack we made we brought the North Head close aboard
We saw the cliffs and houses and the breakers running high
And the coastguard in his garden, his glass against his eye

E ho ro e ho ro
Gu Sgoirebreac a chruidh chaisfhinn
E ho hi ri ill iu o
Ill iu o thograinn falbh

The frost was on the village roofs as white as ocean foam
The good red fires were burning bright in every 'longshore home
The windows sparkled clear and the chimneys volleyed out
And I vow we sniffed the victuals as the vessel went about

Gu Sgoirebreac a chruidh chaisfhinn
E ho hi ri ill iu o
Ill iu o thograinn falbh
Gu Sgoirebreac a' chruidh chais-fhionn
E ho ro e ho ro
Ceud soraidh bhuam mar bu dual dhomh

The bells upon the church were rung with a mighty jovial cheer
For it's just that I should tell you how (of all days in the year)
This day of our adversity was blessed Christmas morn
And the house above the coastguard's was the house where I was born

Gu Sgoirebreac a chruidh chaisfhinn
E ho hi ri ill iu o
Ill iu o thograinn falbh
Gu Sgoirebreac a' chruidh chais-fhionn
E ho ro e ho ro
Ceud soraidh bhuam mar bu dual dhomh

And well I knew the talk they had, the talk that was of me
Of the shadow on the household and the son that went to sea
And, oh, the wicked fool I seemed, in every kind of way
To be here and hauling frozen ropes on blessed Christmas Day

Gu Sgoirebreac a chruidh chaisfhinn
E ho hi ri ill iu o
Ill iu o thograinn falbh
Gu Sgoirebreac a' chruidh chais-fhionn
E ho ro e ho ro
Ceud soraidh bhuam mar bu dual dhomh

The only Gaelic lines that appear on this song on the lyrics at Sting.com are below. Thus, something of a mystery.

Thograinn Thograinn
Thograinn thograinn bhith dol dhachaidh
(I wish we were going home)
E ho ro e ho ro
Gu Sgoirebreac a chruidh chaisfhinn
(To Scorrybreck of the white-footed cattle)
E ho hi ri ill iu o
Ill iu o thograinn falbh
Gu Sgoirebreac a' chruidh chais-fhionn
(To Scorrybreck of the white-footed cattle)
E ho ro e ho ro
Ceud soraidh bhuam mar bu dual dhomh
(The first blessing from me, as is my right)