Chall Eilibh
Tune: Traditional Barra
Arr: Gordon Bok
This is listed in M. Kennedy-Fraser's book Songs of the Hebrides Vol. I as "a coastwise song; words by Agnes Mure Mackenzie, Stornaway, Lewis." The air is from the island of Barra. Kennedy-Fraser arranged it for piano; I hear it more sparsely, with less rhythm. Here are Mackenzie's words:
Gordon – 12-string guitar
Where are the ships that have sailed the seas
Out to the setting of suns long past?
Broken and gone, for the tumbling seas
Have covered them over from first to last.
Noroway snekr out of the north
Galleys of Venice, tall ships of Spain
With strong men singing have all set forth
And the sea lies bare to the drifting rain.
Chall eilibh hor eile
Chall oro…
Chall Eilibh is recorded on the album In the Kind Land and is also in the songbook One to Sing, One to Haul