Tour Scotland Travel Video Eilean a' Cheo Gaelic Song

Tour Scotland travel video Blog of the Eilean a' Cheo, The Misty Isle of Skye, Gaelic song by a female solo singer from the Gaelic Choir on ancestry visit to Dundee, Tayside, Scotland.

Ged tha mo cheann air liathadh
Le deuchainnean is bròn
Is grian mo leth-cheud bliadhna
Air ciaradh fo na neòil
Tha m' aigne air an liònadh
Le iarrtas tha ro mhór
A dh'fhaicinn Eilean Sgiathach
Na siantanan 's a' cheò
Tha còrr 's da fhichead bliadhna
Bho'n thriall mi uait gam' dheòin
'S a chuir mi sìos mo lìon
Ann am meadhon baile mhóir
Is ged a fhuair mi iasgaír
A lìon mo thaigh le stòr
Bu chuimhneachail mi riamh ort
'S bu mhiann leam bhi 'nad chòir
Ach có aig a bheil cluasan
No crìdh' tha gluasad beò
Nach seinneadh leam an duan seo
Mu'n truaigh' a thàinig òirnn?
Na mìlltean a chaidh fhuadach
Thar chuain gun chuid, 's gun chòir
Tha miann an crìdh' 's an smuaintean
Air Eilean uain' a' Cheò
Cuimhichibh gur sluagh sibh
Is cumaibh suas ’ur còir
Tha beartas bho na cruachan
Far an d' fhuair sibh àrach òg
Tha iarrainn agus gual ann
Tha luaidhe glas is òr
Tha meinnean gu ’ur buannachd
An Eilean Uain' a' Cheò
Nis, cuimhnichibh ur cruadal
Is cumaibh suas ur sròl
Gu'n téid an roth mu'n cuairt duibh
Le neart is cruas nan dòrn
Gum bi bhur crodh air buailtean
'S gach tuathanach air dòigh
'S na Sas'nnaich air am fuadach
A Eilean uain' a' Cheò

Although my head has grayed
With forgetfulness and sadness
And the sun of my fifty years
Has darkened under the clouds
My thoughts are filled
With a great desire
To see the Isle of Skye
The elements and the mist
It is more than forty years
Since I left you willingly
And I put down roots
In the middle of the city
And although I married a fisherman
Who filled my house with wealth
You are forever on my mind
And I long to be in your shelter
But who has ears
Or a heart that beats with life
Who will not sing this song with me
About the hardship which has befallen us?
The thousands who were cleared
Deprived of their belongings and their rights
The desires of their hearts and their thoughts
Are on the Green Isle of the Mist
Remember you are a people
and fight for you rights
There are riches under the hills
where you grew up
There is iron and coal there
There is grey lead and gold there
There are mines for you to profit from
On the Green Isle of the Mist
Now remember your hardship
And keep your banner flying
For the wheel of change will not go 'round for you
Without strength and hardness of fist
Your cattle will be in their folds
And every farmer will be happy
And the English would be ousted
From the Green Isle of the Mist

Some say that Skye owes its name to the Vikings who settled on the island more than 1000 years ago. They called it Skyuo, Island of Cloud. Others derive the name from the Gaelic Sgitheanach, meaning Winged Isle. Gaels today know it as Eilean a' Cheo, the Misty Isle.

All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.

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