Just recently I got the information that the song "Morning has Broken" (recorded by Cat Stevens way back in 70s) is not a pop song, but an Irish folk song originally in Gaelic, written some time before 1900.
So far, research in the internet and other sources has not yielded any results. If anybody out there knows something about it, I´d be thankful if you passed that on here...
I´d also appreciate help on the translation of the title (my Irish starts and ends with "agus") including possible variations in spelling, just to enable me to type something into search engines...
The "Morning Has Broken" lyrics were written by children's book writer Eleanor Farjeon. Quoting a friend, Murray, who gave me the information back in 1998:
As a hymn-tune, it's usually called "Bunessan", to be found in hymnbooks to the words of a carol, "Child in the Manger". My hymnbook says the
"Gaelic Melody" is "arranged by David Evans, 1874-1948". The words are a translation by Lachlan MacBean (1853-1931) of a Gaelic hymn by
Mary MacDonald (1817-1890 or so), to be found in MacBean's "Songs and Hymns of the Scottish Highlands" (1888), 24, where we're told
M.MacD. was from Mull; Gaelic designation Mairi Dhughallach, bean Neil Dhomhnullaich ann an Ard Tunna. Her hymn is called (and begins)
"Leanabh an aigh".
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Subject: RE: MUS ADD: Morning Has Broken
From: Alice
Date: 27-Nov-98 - 10:51 AM
Murray, can you post those Gaelic lyrics?
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Subject: RE: MUS ADD: Morning Has Broken
From: Murray on Saltspring
Date: 27-Nov-98 - 11:08 PM
Right, Alice, herewith:
LEANABH AN AIGH — CHILD IN THE MANGER 1.
Leanabh an aigh! Leanabh bh’aig Mairi;
Rugadh an stabull, Righ nan dul!
Thainig do’n fhasach, Dh’fhuiling ’nar n-aite
Son’ iad an aireamh Bhitheas dha dluth! 2.
Ged a bhitheas leanaban Aig righrean na talmhainn,
’N greadhnachas garbh ’Us anabarr muirn,
’S gearr gus am falbh iad ’S fasaidh iad anmhuinn,
An ailleachd ’s an dealbh A searg’ ’san uir. 3.
Cha b’ ionann ’s an t-Uan A thainig g’ar fuasgladh,
Iriosal stuama, Ghluais e’n tus;
E naomh gun truailleachd, Cruithfhear an t-sluaigh,
Dh’ eirich e suas Le buaidh o’n uir. 4.
So leanabh an aigh, Mar dh’ aithris na faidhean,
’S na h-ainglean ard, B’ e miann an sul;
’S e’s airidh ar gradh ’S ar n’ urram thoirt dha;
Is sona aireamh Bhitheas dha dluth.
The English you’ll find in hymnbooks, but the original has "But the most holy" to start the verse (instead of "Once the most holy". This is the 2nd
verse in my book, but the original has 4 (four) stanzas, as you see above, no. 2 being translated thus: Monarchs have tender Delicate children,
Nourished in splendour, Proud and gay;
Death soon shall banish Honour and beauty,
Pleasure shall vanish, Forms decay.
[Which leads, you see, into the next stanza fairly well.]
out of MacBean's book: [I hope I space it better this time]
1.
Child in the manger! Infant of Mary;
Outcast and stranger, Lord of all!
Child who inherits All our transgressions,
All our demerits On him fall!
2.
Monarchs have tender Delicate children,
Nourished in splendour, Proud and Gay;
Death soon shall banish Honour and beauty,
Pleasure shall vanish, Forms decay.
3.
But the most holy Child of Salvation,
Gentle and lowly Lived below;
Now as our glorious Mighty Redeemer,
See Him victorious O'er each foe.
4.
Prophets foretold Him -- Infant of wonder;
Angels behold him On His throne;
Worthy our Saviour Of all their praises,
Happy for ever Are His own.
----
It's just the sort of thing that could have been in the great Oxford Book of Carols (1928, I think), but of course antedates that.
The lyrics are also at George Seto's site, which I added to the links page here at thesession.org.
Direct link to the lyrics for the Gaelic is:
On the link I gave you (above) to George Seto's page, you will also find three more sets of Gaelic lyrics for the song "Morning Has Broken", "Tha mhaduinn air briseadh", "Madainn th'air éirigh", and "Solas na Grèine". So there you have it, four Gaelic songs to the melody, the earliest one being a Christmas carol.
Jeeeeeesus! That was fast! I only posted that question less than two hours ago....
But first, thank you all very much.
There´s quite a lot to digest here, like writing home for five and getting ten...
Question to Murray on the lyrics you sent: Are they Scots or Irish Gaelic?
As far as I can make it out, from the list of publications, a Scottish origin seems more probable than an Irish one.
I´m really curious where this will lead in the end...
Joergfroese, Murray is on another forum (www.mudcat.org) and I just copied and pasted in the discussion where he posted the lyrics. The Gaelic "Leanabh an aigh", the Christmas carol, is scots. I'll have to get back to you on the other Gaelic versions of Morning Has Broken (the three other Gaelic songs on George Seto's website).
Leanabh an Aigh is the original song, but probably only 19th Century. The other three are translations of the Cat Stevens song, Morning Has Broken. It's almost as popular as Silent Night, which has FOUR Gaelic translations. All the songs on my pages are Scottish Gaelic, unless otherwise specified. Beautiful tune. I have never located an older song than Mary MacDonald's hymn.
My apologies, Alice!
I was overwhelmed by the mass of information on, what I thought, was a simple question that I needed some assistance with, and so I read too fast and missed the most important things. I hadn´t actually exspected to get so thorough an answer in the space of two hours.
At the moment I´m translating all of it into German, just to make sure I´m getting it all right, and after that I´ll follow up on all those links...
Yes its most defintiely from the Island of Mull. The most traditionalof Scottish Gaelic Carols. A brand new contemporary arrangement of it can be heard on t e very recent release Duan Nollaig on Greentrax - the worlds first ever Scottish Gaelic Christmas album - a double at that, by Fiona Mackenzie
Thanks for the information on "Leanabh an aigh". The translation is especially helpful: I"m going to be singing it, but wanted to be able to say what it means! "Leanabh an aigh" means, "Child of joy", actually, according to my Gaelic dictionary, but the rest was escaping me.
Morning has Broken
Morning has Broken
Just recently I got the information that the song "Morning has Broken" (recorded by Cat Stevens way back in 70s) is not a pop song, but an Irish folk song originally in Gaelic, written some time before 1900.
So far, research in the internet and other sources has not yielded any results. If anybody out there knows something about it, I´d be thankful if you passed that on here...
I´d also appreciate help on the translation of the title (my Irish starts and ends with "agus") including possible variations in spelling, just to enable me to type something into search engines...
Thanks a lot in advance,
Jörg Fröse
# Posted on September 22nd 2001 by Joerg Froese
Re: Morning has Broken
The "Morning Has Broken" lyrics were written by children's book writer Eleanor Farjeon. Quoting a friend, Murray, who gave me the information back in 1998:
As a hymn-tune, it's usually called "Bunessan", to be found in hymnbooks to the words of a carol, "Child in the Manger". My hymnbook says the
"Gaelic Melody" is "arranged by David Evans, 1874-1948". The words are a translation by Lachlan MacBean (1853-1931) of a Gaelic hymn by
Mary MacDonald (1817-1890 or so), to be found in MacBean's "Songs and Hymns of the Scottish Highlands" (1888), 24, where we're told
M.MacD. was from Mull; Gaelic designation Mairi Dhughallach, bean Neil Dhomhnullaich ann an Ard Tunna. Her hymn is called (and begins)
"Leanabh an aigh".
Post - Top - Forum Home - Translate
Subject: RE: MUS ADD: Morning Has Broken
From: Alice
Date: 27-Nov-98 - 10:51 AM
Murray, can you post those Gaelic lyrics?
Post - Top - Forum Home - Translate
Subject: RE: MUS ADD: Morning Has Broken
From: Murray on Saltspring
Date: 27-Nov-98 - 11:08 PM
Right, Alice, herewith:
LEANABH AN AIGH — CHILD IN THE MANGER 1.
Leanabh an aigh! Leanabh bh’aig Mairi;
Rugadh an stabull, Righ nan dul!
Thainig do’n fhasach, Dh’fhuiling ’nar n-aite
Son’ iad an aireamh Bhitheas dha dluth! 2.
Ged a bhitheas leanaban Aig righrean na talmhainn,
’N greadhnachas garbh ’Us anabarr muirn,
’S gearr gus am falbh iad ’S fasaidh iad anmhuinn,
An ailleachd ’s an dealbh A searg’ ’san uir. 3.
Cha b’ ionann ’s an t-Uan A thainig g’ar fuasgladh,
Iriosal stuama, Ghluais e’n tus;
E naomh gun truailleachd, Cruithfhear an t-sluaigh,
Dh’ eirich e suas Le buaidh o’n uir. 4.
So leanabh an aigh, Mar dh’ aithris na faidhean,
’S na h-ainglean ard, B’ e miann an sul;
’S e’s airidh ar gradh ’S ar n’ urram thoirt dha;
Is sona aireamh Bhitheas dha dluth.
The English you’ll find in hymnbooks, but the original has "But the most holy" to start the verse (instead of "Once the most holy". This is the 2nd
verse in my book, but the original has 4 (four) stanzas, as you see above, no. 2 being translated thus: Monarchs have tender Delicate children,
Nourished in splendour, Proud and gay;
Death soon shall banish Honour and beauty,
Pleasure shall vanish, Forms decay.
[Which leads, you see, into the next stanza fairly well.]
out of MacBean's book: [I hope I space it better this time]
1.
Child in the manger! Infant of Mary;
Outcast and stranger, Lord of all!
Child who inherits All our transgressions,
All our demerits On him fall!
2.
Monarchs have tender Delicate children,
Nourished in splendour, Proud and Gay;
Death soon shall banish Honour and beauty,
Pleasure shall vanish, Forms decay.
3.
But the most holy Child of Salvation,
Gentle and lowly Lived below;
Now as our glorious Mighty Redeemer,
See Him victorious O'er each foe.
4.
Prophets foretold Him -- Infant of wonder;
Angels behold him On His throne;
Worthy our Saviour Of all their praises,
Happy for ever Are His own.
----
It's just the sort of thing that could have been in the great Oxford Book of Carols (1928, I think), but of course antedates that.
The lyrics are also at George Seto's site, which I added to the links page here at thesession.org.
Direct link to the lyrics for the Gaelic is:
http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Zone/6338/xmas_sng.html
Alice Flynn
# Posted on September 22nd 2001 by aliceflynn
Morning has broken
On the link I gave you (above) to George Seto's page, you will also find three more sets of Gaelic lyrics for the song "Morning Has Broken", "Tha mhaduinn air briseadh", "Madainn th'air éirigh", and "Solas na Grèine". So there you have it, four Gaelic songs to the melody, the earliest one being a Christmas carol.
Alice Flynn
# Posted on September 22nd 2001 by aliceflynn
Re: Morning has Broken
Jeeeeeesus! That was fast! I only posted that question less than two hours ago....
But first, thank you all very much.
There´s quite a lot to digest here, like writing home for five and getting ten...
Question to Murray on the lyrics you sent: Are they Scots or Irish Gaelic?
As far as I can make it out, from the list of publications, a Scottish origin seems more probable than an Irish one.
I´m really curious where this will lead in the end...
Jörg Fröse
# Posted on September 22nd 2001 by Joerg Froese
Re: Morning has Broken
Joergfroese, Murray is on another forum (www.mudcat.org) and I just copied and pasted in the discussion where he posted the lyrics. The Gaelic "Leanabh an aigh", the Christmas carol, is scots. I'll have to get back to you on the other Gaelic versions of Morning Has Broken (the three other Gaelic songs on George Seto's website).
Alice Flynn
# Posted on September 22nd 2001 by aliceflynn
Re: Morning has Broken
Leanabh an Aigh is the original song, but probably only 19th Century. The other three are translations of the Cat Stevens song, Morning Has Broken. It's almost as popular as Silent Night, which has FOUR Gaelic translations. All the songs on my pages are Scottish Gaelic, unless otherwise specified. Beautiful tune. I have never located an older song than Mary MacDonald's hymn.
# Posted on September 23rd 2001 by George Seto
Re: Morning has Broken
http://www.geocities.com/george_seto.geo/xmas_sng.html - Christmas Songshttp://www.geocities.com/george_seto.geo/leanabh.html - The actual songAccording to the information I had, the author of the book I got the lyrics from thought she was from the island of Skye, not Mull. Close islands, so either is possible.
# Posted on September 23rd 2001 by George Seto
Re: Morning has Broken
Thanks, George.
alice
# Posted on September 23rd 2001 by aliceflynn
Re: Morning has Broken
My apologies, Alice!
I was overwhelmed by the mass of information on, what I thought, was a simple question that I needed some assistance with, and so I read too fast and missed the most important things. I hadn´t actually exspected to get so thorough an answer in the space of two hours.
At the moment I´m translating all of it into German, just to make sure I´m getting it all right, and after that I´ll follow up on all those links...
Thank you very much, Alice and George,
Jörg Fröse
# Posted on September 24th 2001 by Joerg Froese
Re: Morning has Broken
Leanabh an aigh is DEFINITELY from the Isle of Mull. It was written by Mary MacDonald of Bunessan and it is there that there is a memorial to her.
# Posted on June 15th 2005 by achadhbeag
Re: Morning has Broken
Yes its most defintiely from the Island of Mull. The most traditionalof Scottish Gaelic Carols. A brand new contemporary arrangement of it can be heard on t e very recent release Duan Nollaig on Greentrax - the worlds first ever Scottish Gaelic Christmas album - a double at that, by Fiona Mackenzie
# Posted on December 30th 2007 by gaelicsinger
Re: Morning has Broken
Thanks for the information on "Leanabh an aigh". The translation is especially helpful: I"m going to be singing it, but wanted to be able to say what it means! "Leanabh an aigh" means, "Child of joy", actually, according to my Gaelic dictionary, but the rest was escaping me.
# Posted on January 31st 2008 by Nora Johnson