Annotation:Sleep on till day
X:1 T:Caidil gu lò T:Sleep on till day O:"A Skye Air" M:3/4 L:1/8 R:Air Q:"Slow" B:Patrick MacDonald – “Collection of Highland Vocal Airs” (Edinburgh, 1785, No. No. 157 p. 26) N:MacDonald was Minister of Kilmore in Argyleshire. The volume is N:dedicated to the ‘Gentlemen of the Highland Society in London’. F:https://www.google.com/books/edition/A_Collection_of_Highland_Vocal_Airs_To_w/XCvLHYWLkFcC?hl=en&gbpv=1&printsec=frontcover Z:AK/Fiddler’s Companion K:C V:1 A2|{A}G2D2E2|c3d e2|{A}G2E2TD2|C4 A2|{A}G2D2E2|c3d e2| E2A2T^G2|A4 c>A|G2D2E2|{B}c3d e2|G2E2TD2|C4|| c>d|{cd}e2d2c2|c2G2G2|{A}_B2 A2 A>c|{B}c2G2G2|{G}e3d c2| (c2G)z A>c|{A}G2E2D2|{D}E4 A2|G2D2E2|c3d e2|G>A E2TD2|C4|| V:2 clef = bass F,2|E,2B,,2C,2|E,2D,2C,2|G,4 G,,2|C,2C,,2F,2|E,2B,,2C,2|E,2D,2C,2| C,D, E,2E,,2|A,,2A,2F,2|E,2B,,2C,2|E,2D,2C,2|G,4 G,,2|C,2C,,2|| z2|C,6|E,4C,2|E,2F,2D,2|E,4 C,2|C,2C,,2 z2| E,4F,2|C,2G,2G,,2|C,2C,,2B,,2|C,2F,2E,2|C,2C,,2 z2|C,2G,2 G,,2|C,4||
SLEEP ON TILL DAY (Caidil gu la). AKA - "Lullaby of an Infant Chief." Scottish, Slow Air (3/4 time). C Major (Gow, P. MacDonald, Martin,): E Flat Major (Fraser). Standard tuning (fiddle). AB (Gow/Fraser): AAB (Martin). "Very old" and “Supposed a Skye Air” (Gow), also identified by Rev. Patrick MacDonald as a Skye air. "The editor begs leave to call the attention of the public to the difference betwixt this air, as communicated in Albyn's Anthology, and the genuine set from the singing of Mr. Fraser of Culduthel and the editor's progenitor, here inserted. These airs must be correctly communicated, and form a standard before the poet should have anything to do with them. This also is the only other air which met the approbation of Mr. George Thomson, with 'The Sequestered Beauty'" (Fraser).
According to Malcolm MacFarlane (Celtic Monthly, vol. 10, p. 115) the air and song is closely associated with nursing and milking, used to sooth during the tasks. The Gaelic words go:
Chorus:
O ho ro ì ri ri, Baidil gu lò;
O ho ro ì ri ri, Caidil gu lò.
'S e m' eudail am fleasgach
Ghabh air falbh air an fheasgar,
O, tha mi fo bhreialich
'Ma sheasnas an ceò.
Dol a null air an fhadhaill,
Gu'n deanainn mo roghainn;
''
Bhiodh eàch ari a dheaghaidh,
'S mo roghainn air tòs.
