[Preseantair] ‘S iomadh dòigh anns am faod neach a bhith air a mhealladh. San dàn ‘A bhean agam fhìn’, tha Niall MacLeòid a’ cur an cèill mealladh nas pearsanta.
[Calum Ros] Is mise Calum Ros is tha mi a’ fuireach ann am Mhuilinn Ghàidh, taobh a-muigh Ghlaschu. Tha mi air a bhith ann an seo mòran bhliadhnaichean nise on a phòs mi. Fhuair mi eòlas air a’ phìos bàrdachd, A’ bhean agam fhìn, o chionn fhada ach chan ann mar phìos bàrdachd, ach mar òran, le Calum Camshron ga sheinn air a wireless, agus chòrd e rium, eil fhios agad tha Calum, ‘s e deagh sheinneadair a th’ ann, seinneadair dhà-rìribh a th’ ann agus rinn e job eagallach math dheth seo agus an uair sin chaidh mi dhan leabhar is leugh mi e agus shaoil mi gun robh e uabhasach fhèin math, èibhinn ach cuideachd bha e beagan inntinneach.
[Calum Ros] Tha e a’ còrdadh rium gu bheil e anns a’ chiad àite …..mur h-eil thu, ….dragh sam bith agad mu dhithis, mun duine agus a’ chaileag, tha e èibhinn. Ach air an làimh eile, ‘s e seòrsa rud a th’ ann a dh’fhaodadh tachairt do dhuine sam bith anns an latha a th’ ann an-diugh, ach tha e èibhinn agus tha e ann an Gàidhlig a thuigeas tu agus cha mhòr nach eil dealbh agad dhen truaghan bochd a thachair ris a’ bhoireannach a tha seo aig banais agus phòs e agus fhuair e a-mach nach robh i idir cho bàidheil ‘s cho laghach ‘s bha i latha na bainnse.
[Leughadair] A fhleasgaich tha tathaich,
Air srathan is glinn,
A' mealladh nan caileag,
'S a' farraid am prìs,
Ma dh'fhànas tu tamall,
Ged tha mi car sgìth,
Gun toir mi dhut ealain,
Mun bhean agam fhìn.
An oidhche bha banais,
An taigh Choinnich Dhuinn,
A chunnaic mi chaileag,
Bha ceanalta grinn,
A dhannsadh cho loinneil,
'S a sheinneadh cho binn,
'S bha mise mu coinneamh,
A' togail an fhuinn.
Bha gruaidh mar na ròsan,
Cho bòidheach 's cho mìn,
'S a cuailean cho clannach
Na charan mun chìr,
'S bha mise fom anail
A' cantainn rium fhìn,
'S e aingeal air thalamh
Tha 'n Anna NicCuinn.
[Kenna Chaimbeul] O aig an dàrna brag a mu dheidhinn tha A’ Bhean agam fhìn, gu cinnteach, chan ann mu dheidhinn fhèin ….Nèill fhèin …a tha an t-òran seo ‘s bhiodh bàird a’ dèanamh sin co-dhiù a’ dèanamh òran às leth dhaoine eile ‘s dòcha gur e rudeigin cho….dh'fhaodhte nach robh an sgeul cho mòr no cho uabhasach ‘s a tha i….. ‘s a shaoileas tu, tha i anns an òran, ach rinn esan dràma mòr dheth.
[Calum Ros] Anna NicCuinn, chan eil fhios a’m dè seòrsa boireannaich a bh’ innte. Mar a thuirt mi dh’fhaodadh gun robh spideag oirre aig a’ bhanais ach cha chreid mi anns an latha a tha sin gum biodh, ach ‘s dòcha gur e seòrsa tè a bh’ ann …gun robh i lorg duine, fireannach air choreigin aig an robh tuarastal agus a chumadh ise anns an dòigh air an robh i a’ smaoineachadh a bu chòir dhith bhith air a cumail.
[Calum Ros] Bha fhios aice dè bha i a’ dèanamh, tha mise a’ smaoineachadh, is bha i a’ dol a dh’fhaighinn grèim air duine air dòigh air choreigin agus fhuair i grèim air an duine bochd a bha seo.
[Preseantair] Rugadh is thogadh Niall MacLeòid ann an Gleann Dail san Eilean Sgitheanach agus bha bàrdachd san teaghlach. Aig aois bliadhna thar fhichead, chaidh e a Dhùn Èideann a dh’obair mar Mharsanta Siubhail a’ reic tì agus chuir e seachad a’ mhòr-chuid dhe bheatha sa bhaile sin.
[Kenna Chaimbeul] Tha deagh dhealbh dheth anns an leabhar a thàinig a-mach dhen bhàrdachd aige, Clàrsach an Doire. Ach chan fhaic thu, ‘s ann an dubh is geal tha e , agus chan fhaic thu cho gorm ‘sa tha mi a’ tuigsinn a bha na sùilean aige, sùil dhìreach ghorm. Duine dreachail a bh’ ann, agus duine dòigheil, èibhinn, eirmseach, ùidheil, càirdeil.
[Calum Ros] Mar a chreid mise nach eil an duine bochd air a mhòr mheallaidhean oirre, thachair ris an tè a tha seo, fhios a’d, cho toilichte sa rann no dhà, aig a’ bhanais, cho brèagha, ‘s i a’ seinn ‘s tha e a’ seinn còmhla rithe ‘s a h-uile càil, ‘s an uair sin, an dealbh a’ tionndadh uile gu lèir ‘s tha am mealladh a’ tighinn, tha mise nam bharail-sa co-dhiù, tha e a’ faighinn a-mach nach eil i cho brèagha, ‘s nach eil i cho laghach, ‘s nach eil i cho bàidheil, gur e dìreach bana-chèaird a th’ innte. Tha mi a’ smaoineachadh gur bheil mealladh eagallach eadar a’ chiad dhà no trì rannan agus deireadh an òrain. ‘S an uair sin a’ toirt comhairle dha na h-òganaich aig an deireadh, na dèanadh sibhse a’ mhearachd a rinn mise.
[Leughadair] Is chùm mi mo ghealladh,
Ri Anna NicCuinn:
Mun tàinig a' Challainn,
Bha ise nam mhnaoi;
'S chan eil i cho maiseach,
No idir cho binn,
'S a bha i mum choinneamh,
An taigh Choinnich Dhuinn!
[Kenna Chaimbeul] ‘S e mealladh pearsanta dha-rìribh a bh’ ann agus ‘s e mealladh a bh’ ann aig am biodh buaidh air beatha an dithis agus a h-uile duine timcheall orra airson a’ chuid eile dhem beatha còmhla anns an t-seagh a tha sin, ‘s e rud gu math cudromach a tha sin.
[Leughadair] 'N àm èirigh sa mhadainn
Tha Anna cho tinn,
Cha ghluais i à leabaidh
Gu 'm faigh i cuid tì;
'N sin suidhidh i tacan
A' tachais a cinn,
'S ma chanas mi facal,
Tha 'm bata mum dhruim.
Bho mhadainn gu feasgar
Cha deasaich i nì,
Bho dhoras gu doras
Ri conas is strì;
Ma tha i na h-aingeal,
'S ann air an taobh chlì,
'S tha fhios aig a' bhaile
Nach math leatha sìth.
Chaidh am prògram seo, Sheinn am Bàrd, a chraoladh an toiseach ann an 2009.
[Presenter] There is many a way in which a person can be deceived. In the verse ‘My own wife’, Neil MacLeod details a more personal deception
[Calum Ross] I am Calum Ross and I live in Milngavie, outside Glasgow. I have been here for many years since I married. I came to know the piece of poetry, ‘My own wife’, a long time ago but not as a piece of poetry, but as a song, with Calum Cameron singing it on the wireless and I enjoyed it, you know Calum is, he is a great singer, a fantastic singer and he did a great job of this and then I went to the book and I read it and I thought it was awfully good, funny but also quite interesting.
[Calum Ross] I like that it is in the first place… if you aren’t … any concern about the couple, about the man and the young girl, it is funny. But on the other hand, it’s the sort of thing that could happen to anyone today, but it is funny and it is in Gaelic that you understand and you have a picture of the poor soul who came across this woman at a wedding and he married and found out that she was not as kind and as nice as she was on the wedding day.
[Reader] O young man who haunts
The valleys and glens,
Deception of woman,
And asking the price,
If you pass the time,
Although I am quite tired,
I’ll give you aret,
About my own wife.
The night of the wedding
At dark-haired Kenneth’s house
I saw a young woman
Who was comely and pretty,
And dancing so decently
And singing so sweetly,
And I was around
And picking up the tune.
The cheek were like the roses
So pretty and so fine,
The locks were so wavy,
The curls round the comb,
And I was under my breath,
Saying to myself,
It’s an angel on earth
That Anna MacQueen is.
[Kenna Campbell] Oh it’s a second-hand report that ‘My own wife’ is about, certainly, this song is not about himself, Neil himself, and poets would do that anyway making a song on behalf of other people maybe it is something so… maybe the story wasn’t as big or as awful as it is... as you think, it is in the song, but he made a big drama out of it.
[Calum Ross] Anna MacQueen, I don’t know what sort of woman she was. As I said maybe she was a spiteful girl at the wedding but I don’t think in that day that she would have been, but maybe she was the sort of girl… that she was looking for a man, some guy who had a wage and would keep her in the style that she thought she ought to be kept.
[Calum Ross] She knew what she was doing, I think, and she was going to get hold of a man somehow and she got hold of this poor man.
[Presenter] Neil MacLeod was born and raised in Glendale in the Isle of Skye and there was poetry in the family. At the age of twenty one, he went to Edinburgh to work as a travelling merchant selling tea and he spent most of his life in that town.
[Kenna Campbell] There is a good picture of him in the book of his poetry that was published, Clarsach an Dòire. But you don’t see, it’s in black and white, and you don’t see how blue that I understand his eyes were, pure blue eyes. He was a handsome man and a content, funny, witty, interesting, friendly man.
[Calum Ross] As I understand the man has been greatly deceived by her, he came across this girl, you know, so happy for a verse or two, at the wedding, so lovely, and she is singing and he is singing with her and everything, and then, the picture totally turns and the deception comes, I’m of the opinion anyway, he finds out that she isn’t so pretty, and that she isn’t so nice, and that she isn’t so kind, and that she is just a tinker. I think that there is a terrifying deception between the first two or three verses and the end of the song. And then he gives advice to the young ones at the end, don’t you make the mistake that I made.
[Reader] And I kept my promise
To Anna MacQueen:
When Hogmany came,
She was my wife;
And she is not as beautiful,
Or at all as sweet
As she was around me
At Dark-haired Kenneth’s house!
[Kenna Campbell] It was real personal deception and it was deception that would effect on the couple’s live and everyone around them for the rest of their lives together in that way, that’s an important thing.
[Reader] At the time to get up in the morning
Anna is so sick
She won’t move from bed,
Until I get her some tea;
And there she’ll sit for a while,
Scratching her head,
And if I say a word,
Tha stick is on my back.
From morning to night,
She won’t prepare a thing,
From door to door,
Quarrelling and arguing;
If she is an angel,
She is on the wrong side,
And the town knows,
She is not good with peace.
This programme, Sheinn am Bàrd, was first broadcast in 2009.
[Preseantair] ‘S iomadh dòigh anns am faod neach a bhith air a mhealladh. San dàn ‘A bhean agam fhìn’, tha Niall MacLeòid a’ cur an cèill mealladh nas pearsanta.
[Calum Ros] Is mise Calum Ros is tha mi a’ fuireach ann am Mhuilinn Ghàidh, taobh a-muigh Ghlaschu. Tha mi air a bhith ann an seo mòran bhliadhnaichean nise on a phòs mi. Fhuair mi eòlas air a’ phìos bàrdachd, A’ bhean agam fhìn, o chionn fhada ach chan ann mar phìos bàrdachd, ach mar òran, le Calum Camshron ga sheinn air a wireless, agus chòrd e rium, eil fhios agad tha Calum, ‘s e deagh sheinneadair a th’ ann, seinneadair dhà-rìribh a th’ ann agus rinn e job eagallach math dheth seo agus an uair sin chaidh mi dhan leabhar is leugh mi e agus shaoil mi gun robh e uabhasach fhèin math, èibhinn ach cuideachd bha e beagan inntinneach.
[Calum Ros] Tha e a’ còrdadh rium gu bheil e anns a’ chiad àite …..mur h-eil thu, ….dragh sam bith agad mu dhithis, mun duine agus a’ chaileag, tha e èibhinn. Ach air an làimh eile, ‘s e seòrsa rud a th’ ann a dh’fhaodadh tachairt do dhuine sam bith anns an latha a th’ ann an-diugh, ach tha e èibhinn agus tha e ann an Gàidhlig a thuigeas tu agus cha mhòr nach eil dealbh agad dhen truaghan bochd a thachair ris a’ bhoireannach a tha seo aig banais agus phòs e agus fhuair e a-mach nach robh i idir cho bàidheil ‘s cho laghach ‘s bha i latha na bainnse.
[Leughadair] A fhleasgaich tha tathaich,
Air srathan is glinn,
A' mealladh nan caileag,
'S a' farraid am prìs,
Ma dh'fhànas tu tamall,
Ged tha mi car sgìth,
Gun toir mi dhut ealain,
Mun bhean agam fhìn.
An oidhche bha banais,
An taigh Choinnich Dhuinn,
A chunnaic mi chaileag,
Bha ceanalta grinn,
A dhannsadh cho loinneil,
'S a sheinneadh cho binn,
'S bha mise mu coinneamh,
A' togail an fhuinn.
Bha gruaidh mar na ròsan,
Cho bòidheach 's cho mìn,
'S a cuailean cho clannach
Na charan mun chìr,
'S bha mise fom anail
A' cantainn rium fhìn,
'S e aingeal air thalamh
Tha 'n Anna NicCuinn.
[Kenna Chaimbeul] O aig an dàrna brag a mu dheidhinn tha A’ Bhean agam fhìn, gu cinnteach, chan ann mu dheidhinn fhèin ….Nèill fhèin …a tha an t-òran seo ‘s bhiodh bàird a’ dèanamh sin co-dhiù a’ dèanamh òran às leth dhaoine eile ‘s dòcha gur e rudeigin cho….dh'fhaodhte nach robh an sgeul cho mòr no cho uabhasach ‘s a tha i….. ‘s a shaoileas tu, tha i anns an òran, ach rinn esan dràma mòr dheth.
[Calum Ros] Anna NicCuinn, chan eil fhios a’m dè seòrsa boireannaich a bh’ innte. Mar a thuirt mi dh’fhaodadh gun robh spideag oirre aig a’ bhanais ach cha chreid mi anns an latha a tha sin gum biodh, ach ‘s dòcha gur e seòrsa tè a bh’ ann …gun robh i lorg duine, fireannach air choreigin aig an robh tuarastal agus a chumadh ise anns an dòigh air an robh i a’ smaoineachadh a bu chòir dhith bhith air a cumail.
[Calum Ros] Bha fhios aice dè bha i a’ dèanamh, tha mise a’ smaoineachadh, is bha i a’ dol a dh’fhaighinn grèim air duine air dòigh air choreigin agus fhuair i grèim air an duine bochd a bha seo.
[Preseantair] Rugadh is thogadh Niall MacLeòid ann an Gleann Dail san Eilean Sgitheanach agus bha bàrdachd san teaghlach. Aig aois bliadhna thar fhichead, chaidh e a Dhùn Èideann a dh’obair mar Mharsanta Siubhail a’ reic tì agus chuir e seachad a’ mhòr-chuid dhe bheatha sa bhaile sin.
[Kenna Chaimbeul] Tha deagh dhealbh dheth anns an leabhar a thàinig a-mach dhen bhàrdachd aige, Clàrsach an Doire. Ach chan fhaic thu, ‘s ann an dubh is geal tha e , agus chan fhaic thu cho gorm ‘sa tha mi a’ tuigsinn a bha na sùilean aige, sùil dhìreach ghorm. Duine dreachail a bh’ ann, agus duine dòigheil, èibhinn, eirmseach, ùidheil, càirdeil.
[Calum Ros] Mar a chreid mise nach eil an duine bochd air a mhòr mheallaidhean oirre, thachair ris an tè a tha seo, fhios a’d, cho toilichte sa rann no dhà, aig a’ bhanais, cho brèagha, ‘s i a’ seinn ‘s tha e a’ seinn còmhla rithe ‘s a h-uile càil, ‘s an uair sin, an dealbh a’ tionndadh uile gu lèir ‘s tha am mealladh a’ tighinn, tha mise nam bharail-sa co-dhiù, tha e a’ faighinn a-mach nach eil i cho brèagha, ‘s nach eil i cho laghach, ‘s nach eil i cho bàidheil, gur e dìreach bana-chèaird a th’ innte. Tha mi a’ smaoineachadh gur bheil mealladh eagallach eadar a’ chiad dhà no trì rannan agus deireadh an òrain. ‘S an uair sin a’ toirt comhairle dha na h-òganaich aig an deireadh, na dèanadh sibhse a’ mhearachd a rinn mise.
[Leughadair] Is chùm mi mo ghealladh,
Ri Anna NicCuinn:
Mun tàinig a' Challainn,
Bha ise nam mhnaoi;
'S chan eil i cho maiseach,
No idir cho binn,
'S a bha i mum choinneamh,
An taigh Choinnich Dhuinn!
[Kenna Chaimbeul] ‘S e mealladh pearsanta dha-rìribh a bh’ ann agus ‘s e mealladh a bh’ ann aig am biodh buaidh air beatha an dithis agus a h-uile duine timcheall orra airson a’ chuid eile dhem beatha còmhla anns an t-seagh a tha sin, ‘s e rud gu math cudromach a tha sin.
[Leughadair] 'N àm èirigh sa mhadainn
Tha Anna cho tinn,
Cha ghluais i à leabaidh
Gu 'm faigh i cuid tì;
'N sin suidhidh i tacan
A' tachais a cinn,
'S ma chanas mi facal,
Tha 'm bata mum dhruim.
Bho mhadainn gu feasgar
Cha deasaich i nì,
Bho dhoras gu doras
Ri conas is strì;
Ma tha i na h-aingeal,
'S ann air an taobh chlì,
'S tha fhios aig a' bhaile
Nach math leatha sìth.
Chaidh am prògram seo, Sheinn am Bàrd, a chraoladh an toiseach ann an 2009.
[Presenter] There is many a way in which a person can be deceived. In the verse ‘My own wife’, Neil MacLeod details a more personal deception
[Calum Ross] I am Calum Ross and I live in Milngavie, outside Glasgow. I have been here for many years since I married. I came to know the piece of poetry, ‘My own wife’, a long time ago but not as a piece of poetry, but as a song, with Calum Cameron singing it on the wireless and I enjoyed it, you know Calum is, he is a great singer, a fantastic singer and he did a great job of this and then I went to the book and I read it and I thought it was awfully good, funny but also quite interesting.
[Calum Ross] I like that it is in the first place… if you aren’t … any concern about the couple, about the man and the young girl, it is funny. But on the other hand, it’s the sort of thing that could happen to anyone today, but it is funny and it is in Gaelic that you understand and you have a picture of the poor soul who came across this woman at a wedding and he married and found out that she was not as kind and as nice as she was on the wedding day.
[Reader] O young man who haunts
The valleys and glens,
Deception of woman,
And asking the price,
If you pass the time,
Although I am quite tired,
I’ll give you aret,
About my own wife.
The night of the wedding
At dark-haired Kenneth’s house
I saw a young woman
Who was comely and pretty,
And dancing so decently
And singing so sweetly,
And I was around
And picking up the tune.
The cheek were like the roses
So pretty and so fine,
The locks were so wavy,
The curls round the comb,
And I was under my breath,
Saying to myself,
It’s an angel on earth
That Anna MacQueen is.
[Kenna Campbell] Oh it’s a second-hand report that ‘My own wife’ is about, certainly, this song is not about himself, Neil himself, and poets would do that anyway making a song on behalf of other people maybe it is something so… maybe the story wasn’t as big or as awful as it is... as you think, it is in the song, but he made a big drama out of it.
[Calum Ross] Anna MacQueen, I don’t know what sort of woman she was. As I said maybe she was a spiteful girl at the wedding but I don’t think in that day that she would have been, but maybe she was the sort of girl… that she was looking for a man, some guy who had a wage and would keep her in the style that she thought she ought to be kept.
[Calum Ross] She knew what she was doing, I think, and she was going to get hold of a man somehow and she got hold of this poor man.
[Presenter] Neil MacLeod was born and raised in Glendale in the Isle of Skye and there was poetry in the family. At the age of twenty one, he went to Edinburgh to work as a travelling merchant selling tea and he spent most of his life in that town.
[Kenna Campbell] There is a good picture of him in the book of his poetry that was published, Clarsach an Dòire. But you don’t see, it’s in black and white, and you don’t see how blue that I understand his eyes were, pure blue eyes. He was a handsome man and a content, funny, witty, interesting, friendly man.
[Calum Ross] As I understand the man has been greatly deceived by her, he came across this girl, you know, so happy for a verse or two, at the wedding, so lovely, and she is singing and he is singing with her and everything, and then, the picture totally turns and the deception comes, I’m of the opinion anyway, he finds out that she isn’t so pretty, and that she isn’t so nice, and that she isn’t so kind, and that she is just a tinker. I think that there is a terrifying deception between the first two or three verses and the end of the song. And then he gives advice to the young ones at the end, don’t you make the mistake that I made.
[Reader] And I kept my promise
To Anna MacQueen:
When Hogmany came,
She was my wife;
And she is not as beautiful,
Or at all as sweet
As she was around me
At Dark-haired Kenneth’s house!
[Kenna Campbell] It was real personal deception and it was deception that would effect on the couple’s live and everyone around them for the rest of their lives together in that way, that’s an important thing.
[Reader] At the time to get up in the morning
Anna is so sick
She won’t move from bed,
Until I get her some tea;
And there she’ll sit for a while,
Scratching her head,
And if I say a word,
Tha stick is on my back.
From morning to night,
She won’t prepare a thing,
From door to door,
Quarrelling and arguing;
If she is an angel,
She is on the wrong side,
And the town knows,
She is not good with peace.
This programme, Sheinn am Bàrd, was first broadcast in 2009.