Annotation:Westering Home

Back to Westering Home

WESTERING HOME (Trasna na dtonnta). Scottish (originally), Irish; Air and Waltz (3/4 time). G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). One part (Martin): AB (Tubridy). An old Scottish chestnut, popular in Ireland as well. Speeded up in jig time it resembles “Muckin' o' Geordie's Byre.” The song, a modern Gaelic composition by Ian (Kaid) MacLean, has words that go:

Tell me o' lands o' the Orient gay, Sing o' the riches and joys o' Cathay Man! But it's grand to awaken each day And find yourself nearer to Isla.
Chorus:
For we're Westering home wi' a song in the air Light in me heart an' it's goodbye to care Laughter o' love and a welcomin' there Isle o' me heart, me own land.
Wha' are the folks like the folks o' the west? Canty an' couthy an' kind to the best There I would lay me and there I would rest At home wi' my ain folks at Isla.

Source for notated version:

Printed sources: Martin (Traditional Scottish Fiddling), 2002; p. 40. Tubridy (Irish Traditional Music, vol. 1), 1999; p. 1.

Recorded sources: Brian Rooney – “Godfather.”