Annotation:My Lily

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MY LILY. AKA and see "Mo shuil a'd dheigh" ("For Thee I Sigh" or "Fare Thee Well Love"), "Of Thee I Dream." Scottish, Canadian; Gaelic Air (3/4 time). Canada, Cape Breton. A Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. According to Archibald Ferguson in The Celtic Monthly (1893, p. 167) the song "Mo shuil a'd' dheigh" (For thee I sigh) was first published in MacKenzie's Beauties of Gaelic Poetry, wherein it is given that it was the composition of an Irish student studying in Scotland.

The air now given is associated with the song in Argyllshire. We believe it is sung to a somewhat different melody in the north....The reference in the first verse to yarrow is interesting. The yarrow must be cut by moonlight by a young man or woman, with a black-handled knife, and certain mystic words, similar to the following pronounced:--

Good-morrow, good-morrow, fair yarrow,
And thrice good-morrow to thee;
Come, tell me before tomorrow,
Who my true love shall be.

The yarrow is brought home, put into the right stocking and placed under the pillow, and the mystic dream is expected; but if he or she opens his or her lips before the yarrow is pulled, the charm is broken.

The first verse and chorus of the song goes:

Gu'n d'éirich mi mochthrath maduinn an dé,
'S gu'n gheàrr mi 'n earr-thalmhainn do bhrìgh mo sgèil,
An dùil gu 'm faicinn-sa rùn mo chléibh;
O chòin! gu 'm facas, 's a cùlaibh rium féin.

Séist O chòin! mo chailin, 's mo shùil a'd dhéidh;
A chailin, mo chailin, 's mo shùil a'd dhéidh;
A Lili, mo Lili, 's mo shùil a'd dhéidh;
Cha leir dhomh am bealach le sileadh nan deur.

(Translation)
Yesterday morning, at dawn of day,
I pulled the yarrow, with heart so gay,
Expecting my sweetheart to pass that way;
I saw her--but, wae's me, she turned away.

If I had the strength of my early days,
When lightly I followed with hound the chase,
I'd fight with bravest, and lay him low,
Before my true love with another should go.

One story says that the song was originally written by a student of Celtic studies in Glasgow, enamored of a woman from Dublin, however, the real story behind the song is documented in the Transactions of the Gaelic Society of Inverness (vol. 57). It seems that the Reverend Donald MacNicoll, minister of Lismore and a distinguished Gaelic scholar, proposed in 1771 at the age of 36 to the young Lilias Campbell of Achlian, Dalmally, who lived nearby. She was half his age and, loath to marry an older man and one somewhat disfigured by smallpox, and instead accepted the alternate proposal of a Captain Campbell of Glenorchy. MacNicholl consoled himself in versifying on the lonely horseback ride home, composing the famous song of lost love, "Mo shuil a'd dheigh." After the departure of his rival Campbell grew careless, and during the celebrating of his betrothal he asked his servant to kiss Lilias for the wager of a shilling. For her part, Lilias was incensed at being so ungallantly bought and immediately broke it off with Campbell, sending instead for MacNicholl to see if he might still be agreeable. He was, and they married in November, 1771, two days after her 18th birthday. The couple lived long and happily, despite the fact that many of their 16 children died in infancy, as was tragically too common in those days.

Source for notated version: adapted by fiddler Jerry Holland (Inverness, Cape Breton) from the piano playing of Joan MacDonald Boes (accompanist for The Five MacDonald Fiddlers on many of their recordings in the 1960's) [Cranford].

Printed sources: Cranford (Jerry Holland's Collection), 1995; No. 278, p. 81.

Recorded sources: Victor 216388 (78 RPM), Malcolm R. MacLeod (1923).

See also listing at:
Alan Snyder's Cape Breton Fiddle Recording Index [1]
Jane Keefer's Folk Music Index: An Index to Recorded Sources [2]
Hear the 1923 recording sung by Malcolm R. MacLeod [3]

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