Mouth Music (translation) Falalalo
O fair-headed lad, if you say the word Yours is my right hand, right away, if you come with affection Isn't it a pity that you and I did not meet On an island without ebbtide, without oar, without coracle, without rudder If you go to sea, love, have a guinea in your pocket And drink my health in every place that you sit at table With your bright, light, joyous, high-spirited, young heart How I do like the mouth from which music comes most sweetly! I love the teeth, and the mouth that would not grumble How I wish that you would come to me and stretch out by my side If it were not for the gossips, my love and I would surely be With the blessing of the clergy, together in a firm bond Oh, if you and I were on a mountain, hill or shady slope Or on a white beach, in a place where no-one has ever been Seven days, seven nights, without rest, without sleep, without food But with you, love, your fair arm freely round me Heard from Penelope Morrison (South Uist); additional text from the MacDonald Collection of Gaelic Poetry (Angus & Archibald MacDonald, ed. 1911)
