11/09/2022
Cha Tig Mòr, Mo Bhean, Dhachaigh / Marion, My Wife, Will Not Come Home
Here, as performed by Kate Buchanan (as pictured), a native of the Isle of , is a heart-rending song from a man’s perspective that he will no longer see his wife coming home. According to another source, as related by Duncan MacDonald of South (see below), the story behind the song takes shape from a migratory legend or rather international tale (ATU 990, The Seemingly Dead Revives) whereby his wife wasn’t actually dead but was rather in a trance and was subsequently buried alive. Grave robbers subsequently attempted to take her wedding ring and this is when she woke up. The recording was captured by John MacDonald, also a native of the Isle of Barra, in the winter of 1954.
Cha Tig Mòr, Mo Bhean, Dhachaigh
[Translation below]
Cha tig Mòr, mo bhean, dhachaigh,
Cha tig Mòr, mo bhean ghaoil,
Cha tig màthair mo leanabh
Nochd a fhreagair i ’n glaodh.
Ged tha ’n crodh anns an eadradh
’S iad ri freagairt nan laogh:
Ged tha Mòr ann an Dùn Bheagain
Nochd cha fhreagair i ’n glaodh.
Cha tig Mòr, mo bhean, dhachaigh,
Cha tig Mòr, mo bhean ghaoil,
Cha tig màthair mo leanabh
Nochd a laighe ri m’ thaobh.
Ged a gheibhinn air m’ òrdun,
Na bheil òr aig an rìgh;
B’ fheàrr le màthair mo leanabh
Nochd a bhith laighe ri m’ thaobh.
Cha tig Mòr, mo bhean, dhachaigh,
Cha tig Mòr, mo bhean ghaoil,
Cha tig màthair mo leanabh
Nochd a laighe ri ’m thaobh.
Cinnidh bàrr air an iubhais,
Cinnidh ùbhlan air chraoibh;
Cinnidh bàrr air an luachair
Ò cha d’fhuair mo bhean aois.
Cha tig Mòr mo bhean dhachaigh,
Cha tig Mòr mo bhean ghaoil,
Cha tig màthair mo leanabh
Nochd fhreagair i ’n glaodh.
Marion, My Wife Will Not Come Home
Marion, my wife, will not come home,
Marion, my beloved wife will not come;
The mother of my child will not come
And will not answer their cries tonight.
The cattle are in the milking fold
And they are answering their young
Marion is in Dunvegan will not come
And will not answer their cries.
Marion, my wife, will not come home,
Marion, my beloved wife will not come;
The mother of my child will not come
To lie by my side tonight.
The berry will grow on the yew-tree
The apples will bloom on a tree,
A tuft will grow on the rush –
Oh, my wife did not reach her prime.
Marion, my wife, will not come home,
Marion, my beloved wife will not come;
The mother of my child will not come
And will not answer their cries tonight.
Recorded by John MacDonald in December 1954 from the singing of Kate Buchanan (Ceit Ruairidh Iain Bhàin, 1895–1973) who was born and brought up in Bruernish, Barra. She was a daughter of Roderick MacKinnon (Ruairidh Iain Bhàin), known for his wide repertoire and especially his singing of Òrain Mhòra, or the great songs. Her younger brother was Donald Joseph MacKinnon, known as An Eòsag. The original tape recording is catalogued as SA1954/142/4 which is available to listen to on Tobar an Dualchais: [http://tobarandualchais.co.uk/track/105854?l=en]; see further Anon., ‘Cha Tig Mòr Mo Bhean Dhachaidh’, Mac-Talla, vol. VII, no. 9 (1899), p. 307; Rev. Angus MacDonald and Rev. Archibald MacDonald (eds.), The MacDonald Collection of Gaelic Poetry (Inverness: Northern Counties Publishing Co., 1911), pp. lv, 328; Duncan MacDonald [South Uist], ‘Cha Tig Mor Mo Bhean Dhachaidh’, Tocher, no. 4 (1971), pp. 120–23; Rev. James MacDougall, Folk Tales and Fairy Lore, ed. by the Rev. George Calder (Edinburgh: James Grant, 1910), pp. 112–15; Margaret MacKay [Harris], ‘Cha Tig Mor Mo Bhean Dhachaidh’, Tocher, no. 22 (1976), pp. 222–23; Donald C. MacPherson, An Duanaire: A New Collection of Gaelic Songs and Poems (Edinburgh: MacLachlan & Stewart, 1868), pp. 34–35; and Cairistìona Mhàrtainn (ed.), Òrain an Eilein (Breacais, An t-Eilean Sgitheanach: Taigh na Teud, 2019) p. 99.
