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Am Muileann Dubh - The Black Mill |
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O dh'ith na coin na maragan 's na lůba dubh air Ruaraidh, O dh'ith na coin na maragan 's na lůba dubh air Ruaraidh, O dh'ith na coin na maragan 's na lůba dubh air Ruaraidh, O dh'ith na coin na maragan 's na lůba dubh air Ruaraidh. 'S i Seňnaid rinn na maragan, na maragan, na maragan, 'S i Seňnaid rinn na maragan 's na lůba dubh do Ruaraidh. 'S i Seňnaid rinn na maragan, na maragan, na maragan, 'S i Seňnaid rinn na maragan 's na lůba dubh do Ruaraidh. Nuair dh'čirich mi sa mhadainne, sa mhadainne, sa mhadainne, Nuair dh'čirich mi sa mhadainne chan fhaighinn grčim air Ruaraidh. Nuair dh'čirich mi sa mhadainne, sa mhadainne, sa mhadainne, Nuair dh'čirich mi sa mhadainne chan fhaighinn grčim air Ruaraidh. Tha am muileann dubh air thuraman, tha am muileann dubh air thuraman, Tha am muileann dubh air thuraman, 's e togairt dol a dhannsadh! Tha am muileann dubh air thuraman, tha am muileann dubh air thuraman, Tha am muileann dubh air thuraman, 's e togairt dol a dhannsadh! Tha nead na circe-fraoich anns a' mhuileann dubh, sa mhuileann dubh, Tha nead na circe-fraoich anns a' mhuileann dubh o shamhradh. Tha nead na circe-fraoich anns a' mhuileann dubh, sa mhuileann dubh, Tha nead na circe-fraoich anns a' mhuileann dubh o shamhradh. Tha iomadh rud nach saoileadh tu anns a' mhuileann dubh, sa mhuileann dubh, Tha iomadh rud nach saoileadh tu anns a' mhuileann dubh o shamhradh. Tha iomadh rud nach saoileadh tu anns a' mhuileann dubh, sa mhuileann dubh, Tha iomadh rud nach saoileadh tu anns a' mhuileann dubh o shamhradh. Tha gobhair is crodh-laoigh anns a' mhuileann dubh, sa mhuileann dubh, Tha gobhair is crodh-laoigh anns a' mhuileann dubh o shamhradh. Tha gobhair is crodh-laoigh anns a' mhuileann dubh, sa mhuileann dubh, Tha gobhair is crodh-laoigh anns a' mhuileann dubh o shamhradh. Tha am muileann dubh air thuraman, tha am muileann dubh air thuraman, Tha am muileann dubh air thuraman, 's e togairt dol a dhannsadh! Tha am muileann dubh air thuraman, tha am muileann dubh air thuraman, Tha am muileann dubh air thuraman, 's e togairt dol a dhannsadh! An cuala thu gun robh snaoisean anns a' mhuileann dubh, sa mhuileann dubh, An cuala thu gun robh snaoisean anns a' mhuileann dubh o shamhradh. An cuala thu gun robh snaoisean anns a' mhuileann dubh, sa mhuileann dubh, An cuala thu gun robh snaoisean anns a' mhuileann dubh o shamhradh. Bha poit-dhubh uisge-beatha anns a' mhuileann dubh, sa mhuileann dubh, Bha poit-dhubh uisge-beatha anns a' mhuileann dubh o shamhradh. Bha poit-dhubh uisge-beatha anns a' mhuileann dubh, sa mhuileann dubh, Bha poit-dhubh uisge-beatha anns a' mhuileann dubh o shamhradh. Rug an gàidsear air gun fhios anns a' mhuileann dubh, sa mhuileann dubh, Rug an gàidsear air gun fhios anns a' mhuileann dubh ann an oidche, san oidche. Rug an gàidsear air gun fhios anns a' mhuileann dubh, sa mhuileann dubh, Rug an gàidsear air gun fhios anns a' mhuileann dubh ann an oidche, san oidche. Tha am muileann dubh air thuraman, tha am muileann dubh air thuraman, Tha am muileann dubh air thuraman, 's e togairt dol a dhannsadh! Tha am muileann dubh air thuraman, tha am muileann dubh air thuraman, Tha am muileann dubh air thuraman, 's e togairt dol a dhannsadh! |
O the dogs ate Rory's sausages and black puddings, O the dogs ate Rory's sausages and black puddings, O the dogs ate Rory's sausages and black puddings, O the dogs ate Rory's sausages and black puddings. Janet made the sausages, the sausages, the sausages, Janet made the sausages and black puddings for Rory. Janet made the sausages, the sausages, the sausages, Janet made the sausages and black puddings for Rory. When I got up in the morning, in the morning, in the morning, When I got up in the morning I couldn't get hold of Rory. When I got up in the morning, in the morning, in the morning, When I got up in the morning I couldn't get hold of Rory. The black mill is shaking, the black mill is shaking , The black mill is shaking, and it wants to dance! The black mill is shaking, the black mill is shaking , The black mill is shaking, and it wants to dance! The moor hen's nest is in the black mill, in the black mill, The moor hen's nest is in the black mill, since summer. The moor hen's nest is in the black mill, in the black mill, The moor hen's nest is in the black mill, since summer. Many things you wouldn't imagine in the black mill, in the black mill, Many things you wouldn't imagine in the black mill since summer. Many things you wouldn't imagine in the black mill, in the black mill, Many things you wouldn't imagine in the black mill since summer. Goats and dairy-cows have been in the black mill, in the black mill, Goats and dairy-cows have been in the black mill since summer. Goats and dairy-cows have been in the black mill, in the black mill, Goats and dairy-cows have been in the black mill since summer. The black mill is shaking, the black mill is shaking , The black mill is shaking, and it wants to dance! The black mill is shaking, the black mill is shaking , The black mill is shaking, and it wants to dance! Did you hear that there was snuff in the black mill, in the black mill, Did you hear that there was snuff in the black mill since summer Did you hear that there was snuff in the black mill, in the black mill, Did you hear that there was snuff in the black mill since summer. There was an illicit whisky still in the black mill, in the black mill, There was an illicit whisky still in the black mill since summer. There was an illicit whisky still in the black mill, in the black mill, There was an illicit whisky still in the black mill since summer. The Excise man caught him unaware in the black mill, in the black mill, The Excise man caught him unaware in the black mill at night. The Excise man caught him unaware in the black mill, in the black mill, The Excise man caught him unaware in the black mill at night. The black mill is shaking, the black mill is shaking , The black mill is shaking, and it wants to dance! The black mill is shaking, the black mill is shaking , The black mill is shaking, and it wants to dance! |
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I have whimsically added two extra verses to explicitly include the illicit whisky still for which the miller was imprisoned when he was caught by the gaugers. Bha poit-dhubh uisge-beatha anns a' mhuileann dubh o shamhradh. - There was an illicit whisky still in the black mill since summer. Rug an gàidsear air gun fhios anns a' mhuileann dubh ann an oidche, san oidche. - The Excise man caught him unaware in the black mill at night. With grateful thanks to Dr Chris Dracup for correcting my Gaelic |
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From the Athole Collection of the dance music of Scotland, Volume 1, page 44. Compiled and arranged by James Stewart Robertson. Published by MacLachlan & Stewart, London 1883. |
Apparently, on Cape Breton Island the tune/song was not allowed to be played in certain parts because it was so closely associated with the MacDougalls of Margaree, who apparently were extremely touchy about hearing it played within their earshot! It appears that one line of a stanza of the puirt a beul set to the melody goes "Tha nead circe fraoiche 's a' mhuilean dubh." (In the black mill is the heather-hen's nest). The offence to the Margaree MacDougalls was due to a joke that was told about hens at the expense of the clan, and they were so sensitive to any reference to the joke that they could not tolerate mention of poultry of any kind, and took the playing of the tune to be a veiled insult against the clan. A story of the tune was related by Gregor MacGregor of Edinburgh, in a letter to John MacKay's The Celtic Monthly of May, 1900 (pp. 159–160), and may have to do with the touchiness of the MacDougalls of Margaree. MacGregor said the verses "recall many happy memories. Fifty years ago [i.e. c. 1850] I often witnessed the young men and maidens of my native village, Camghouran, in Rannoch, Perthshire, dance to the strain of the song, used by an old village worthy as port a bheul." MacGregor associated the title "Muileann Dubh" with a miller, the "last smuggler in Rannoch, known throughout the length and breadth of the land as Am Muillear-dubh. The miller ran an illegal distillery, which MacGregor saw—"the mill lade to the bigging, and the tail race therefrom, the barley steeping...". His letter suggests that all such illegal distilleries were known as Am Muileann-dubh, and the Gaelic verses a reference to the activity: Only an old Highland herd intimately acquainted with the habits and habitats of grouse, goats, sheep and crodh-laoigh, and who has for many a long winter fortnight sat by the glowing hearth, and heard the smuggling tales then so common, can appreciate the suggestiveness of the song. Every line is pregnant with meaning...I venture to submit that the bard witnessed the stone gable, all that remained, of the now deserted Muileann-dubh, the other parts according to my observation being generally constructed of feal and divot, and easily overthrown...I saw in common with all my schoolfellows the Muillear-dubh above referred to—having been caught in flagranti delicto — being led away to Perth Prison by the guager and his minions...The miller was an old man. He had been in trouble previously...[when he died] he was carried to his long home, without stigma, or loss of respect in the district. Another story of the tune was recited in Gaelic by John Allen Beaton of Broad Cove Marsh, Inverness County, Cape Breton, to researcher Dr. Seósamh Watson in 1982. It seems that a member of the community had taken quite ill one winter, and a man was dispatched to fetch the priest to administer to him. All haste was to be made, as the death was thought to be imminent, but the priest and his summoner were uncommonly fond of music. The passed a mill on the journey to the sickbed, and as they did so they were captivated by a melody emanating from the structure, and they were compelled to stop. Instead of ending, however, the melody played on without conclusion, until finally the priest, remembering his duty, said, "Get going. We'll be late for the sick man. That's the devil in there and he's trying to keep us back. Get Going! We can't be listening to the tune." Upon which they resumed their journey. When they arrived they found they were too late; the man had died. The tune, however, stayed with them, and they called it "Muileann Dubh a' Logadair"; 'The Devil's Mills'. Dr. Watson thought the odd word 'Logadair' may have been a corruption of the Lochaber placename, Auchlaucharach, in Glen Roy, Scotland [see An Rubha, vol. 9, No. 1, Winter 2005/06]. Paraig MacNeil, bard to the Clan Gregor Society, provided links to various collections and regional variants of 'Am Muileann Dubh' from Tobar an Dualchais: http://www.tobarandualchais.co.uk/en/fullrecord/70781?backURL=/en/search%3Fpage%3D1%23track_70781 http://www.tobarandualchais.co.uk/en/fullrecord/49305?backURL=/en/search%3Fpage%3D1%23track_49305 http://www.tobarandualchais.co.uk/en/fullrecord/49305?backURL=/en/search%3Fpage%3D1%23track_49305 http://www.tobarandualchais.co.uk/en/fullrecord/74535?backURL=/en/search%3Fpage%3D1%23track_74535 http://www.tobarandualchais.co.uk/en/fullrecord/88782?backURL=/en/search%3Fpage%3D1%23track_88782 http://www.tobarandualchais.co.uk/en/fullrecord/34892?backURL=/en/search%3Fpage%3D1%23track_34892%23track_34892 |