...a little music history. 

Gaelic Waulking Songs in the Outer Hebrides (1941) [With full lyrics and translation] (The Folk Revival Project) 

"Little Rhymes in the Manx": Music and the Herring Workers (Culture Vannin) 

It was nice to find out "Mairead Nan Cuiread" is a waulking song from the Isle of Lewis!  Performed here by the Nevis Ensemble. 

According to the Beaton Institute of Music (Cape Breton), ‘Illean Bithibh Sunndach is a very well known milling (waulking) song. 

‘Illean Bithibh Sunndach - sheet music

Thought it was very cool to find a video you can learn to sing it in Scotts Gaidhlig!  From Ye Old Scott Channel. 

The 'Illean Bithibh Sunndach song used in the above translation is on Fiona J Mackenzie's "A Good Suit of Clothes" album.

So, part of the reason I'm interested in working songs is their mesmerizing rhythms... AND they usually have a catchy chorus - unlike most fiddle tunes! 

BUT, that doesn't mean they were all originally in this song form!!! 

Some lyrics are added to old tunes & some poetry has music composed to match - so I don't think it's something new to take a traditional fiddle tune and add a chorus, or repeat part of the tune for a chorus... it's just a new way of thinking 'for me', with endless possibilities! 

O Nighean Donn nan Gobhar 

"O Brown-haired Maiden of The Goats" (thesession.org)

I found THREE, very different approaches in performances of this tune - I LOVE THEM ALL!

Which one do YOU feel makes a perfect working tune? 

...love Mary Jane Lamond's mesmerizing voice!

Mary Jane Lamond left a few thoughts on this, plus translation at her site. 

This is a love song that I got from Peter MacLean of Rear Christmas Island.  In this song the young man says that although he is among fine and elegant company he would much prefer to be with his sweetheart, making merry while tending the goats.  The words of this song are published in An t-Òranaiche but without the chorus.  A song with a very similar chorus is well known in Scotland.

@stringy -

🤣 You're funny! 

...I probably shouldn't laugh, maybe there's folks who haven't seen it. 😳

"Heigh Ho", "Dig, Dig, Dig" & "Whistle While You Work" - Disney's Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs (1937)! 

Back to Gaelic, "Òran na Cloiche" - performed here by Owen Kennedy & Sean Healy!  Sheet music at The Session for this one!!!  "Stone of Destiny"

Another waulking song, "Gaol isle gaol i" - sung by Kathleen MacInnes.  It's worth trying on the fiddle - best sheet music I can find.

It's amazing to me how many of these Songs are related to strathspeys - maybe accounts for why they can be heard played many ways.  I think many fiddle tunes are also songs - much more interesting (to me) to not think of them as separate, but as variations.

I learned "Cutting Bracken" (Tha Mi Sgìth + more names) from a Fiona Cuthill tutorial.  If you look at "Cutting Bracken" at The Session, you'll find versions of the sheet music & info on it still being a popular waulking song with really wonderful lyrics!  Here from Burning Bridget Cleary:

Mile Marbhaisg air a' Ghaol (A Thousand Curses on Love) - another waulking song!  Eilean Mòr is a Scottish roots band in Australia. 

Including a PDF of the notation & lyrics from feisroisfoghlam.org! 

Also mp3 of fiddle & singing. 

@ABitRusty -

Thanks for sharing that album!

Really LOVE some of them! 

It just makes sense to me that many tunes passed down, thru generations & with immigrations, survived because they WERE sung with lyrics - maybe even whistled with the lyrics in mind.

AND, maybe the rhythms differ depending on the task at hand. 

I'm definitely interested in how the violin can mimic speech/singing and how vocals can be interchanged with instruments in dance, work & listening music.  Been looking into Air (trad folk vs Classical) structure, Arias, Ballads & how musique mesurée was deliberately composed with notes to fit syllable length of lyrics. 

So many types of SONGS: Lullabies, Laments, Battle Hymns, Protest, Rebel, Work, Celebration & Love (did I miss any?) - all worth playing on the fiddle, but also consider making something of your own from these. 🥰 

Capercaillie - took an old waulking tune & modernized it here.  They have been inspired by many of the old Gaelic songs.

Don't know why there seem to be more Scottish Gaelic working songs than Irish Gaelic ones.  So many great Irish songs - didn't Irish workers sing while working?

Óró Sé Do Bheatha Abhaile is one of my favorite Irish Gaelic songs that has a old history of being used for quite a few different things & certainly has the makings of a working song, but I can't prove it actually ever was one. Suppose it goes for a lot of old songs.  Seo Linn is one group I like that modernized some trad Irish Gaelic Songs, including Óró, sé do bheatha 'bhaile (LOVE this tune). 

I also looked at An Introduction to The Gaelic Music Tradition. 

Song and music were present at nearly all times in people's lives, whether they were at work or at rest. Reapers swung their scythes to the rhythm of the songs that they sang, and at other times they were spurred on by a bagpiper playing in the middle of the field with them; men rowing boats sang choral songs to keep time on the oars; women fulling cloth sang songs to pass the hours and to keep the movement of the cloth synchronized with one another; and so on. No matter what the task - grinding corn, spinning wool, milking the cow, or churning butter - there was a selection of songs that accompanied the activity and matched the speed at which it was done. There were also songs sung to soothe the restless child, and songs sung to put adults to sleep, and music played to wake one in the morning.Song and music were present at nearly all times in people's lives, whether they were at work or at rest. Reapers swung their scythes to the rhythm of the songs that they sang, and at other times they were spurred on by a bagpiper playing in the middle of the field with them; men rowing boats sang choral songs to keep time on the oars; women fulling cloth sang songs to pass the hours and to keep the movement of the cloth synchronized with one another; and so on. No matter what the task - grinding corn, spinning wool, milking the cow, or churning butter - there was a selection of songs that accompanied the activity and matched the speed at which it was done. There were also songs sung to soothe the restless child, and songs sung to put adults to sleep, and music played to wake one in the morning.

There is an account that implies all instruments played the same repertoires. 

...interesting about Gaelic speech & rhythm, too. 

The first thing to be noted is that virtually all Gaelic poetry was meant to be chanted or sung, and thus there is no fundamental distinction between poetry and song. The same words were used for the poems and songs, and for performing them.  

A nineteenth century song collector advises his readers to learn these songs if they want to learn authentic Highland melodies: 

'Every old reel and strathspey, being originally a port-à-beul, has its own words. Now, if you wish to play with genuine taste, keep singing the words in your mind when you are playing the tune.'

Seeing the important connection the Gaelic language had with music & dance, it's easy to understand what happened in the years it came under attack - and I don't think immigration helped, especially to the USA (English would be expected).  Glad there's been a revival!