Annotation:Tocherless Lass (1) (The)
X:1 T:Gun chrodh gun aighean T:Tocherless Lass [1], The M:C L:1/8 R:Air B:Frances Murray - Summer in the Hebrides: Sketches in Colonsay and Oronsay (1887, p. 56) Z:AK/Fiddler’s Companion K:F F3F G2A2|f3e d2c2|c3c A2F2|(AG) F2D2C2| F3F F2F2|G2A2 c2c2|d2f2c2A2|G3F F4||
TOCHERLESS LASS [1], THE. AKA – "Ged tha mi gun chrodh gun aighean," “Gun chrodh gun aighean,” “Lass without a dowry (The)," "Though I am motherless.” Scottish, Air and Pipe Tune (whole or 3/4 time). F Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. English folklorist Lucy Broadwood recorded the song on a wax cylinder from the singing of John MacLennan in 1908[1], and, in 1958, by Helen Creighton, from the singing of John Archie Campbell, of Heatherdale, Prince Edward Island. The Gaelic words begin:
Ged tha mi gun chrodh, gun aighean,
Gun chrodh-laoigh, gun chaoraich agam,
Ged tha mi gun chrodh, gun aighean,
Gheibh mi fhathast òigear grinn.
Fhir a dh'imicheas thar chuantan,
Giùlain mìle beannachd uamsa
Dh'ionnsaidh òigeir a' chùil dualaich,
Ged nach d'fhuair mi e dhomh fhìn.
Translation:
Though I've neither sheep nor cattle,
Gear nor grandeur, goods nor chattels;
Though I've neither sheep nor cattle,
Yet a gallant true I'll find.
Thou that sail'st across the billow,
Tell my youth, with voice so mellow,
That I'd sleep without a pillow
Were he only by my side.
