Other, airs etc.

Casadh an tSúgáin

A classic Irish sean nos (old style) song, which translates as “The Twisting of the Hay Rope.” The song is about a young man who comes to a cottage, courting. The mother gets rid of him by getting him to help with the making of a hay rope. When the length of the rope means he’s outside the door, she slams the door shut, leaving him outside.

The song is from the mans point of view, lamenting his fortune. In fact he seems pretty sour about it and it’s not really clear that the young woman had actually shown any interest in him at all.

Da slockit light

Written by Shetland fiddler Tom Anderson in the 1960s.

The story behind the tune (what I was told anyway), was that he was sat on a hillside at night watching as the lights being turned off in the houses below. “slockit light” means to extinguish a light.

Youtube

A video of Tom Anderson playing “Da slockit light.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xq5JBSu5tqY

The Grenadier’s Return

Slow march. Sometimes called “The Grenadier’s slow march”, though it is not the slow march of the Grenadier Guards (that is Scipio). Played at Trooping the Colour.