The Donside Emigrant's Farewell Come all my old comrades, once more let us join And raise your sweet voices in chorus with mine Let us drink and be merry, from sorrow refrain, For we may and may never meet all here again The time's fast approaching that I must away I bid you adieu for many's the long day With you, my dear comrades, so happy we've been here But away to Virginia my course I must steer May Heaven protect us with a prosperous gale And be our safeguard while we are under sail Lead us safe to the harbor across the proud wave We will trust to His mercy Who can sink or can save Ye hills and low valleys of Donside, farewell For if ever I return there is none here can tell Farewell to your lasses of every degree Long in vain will I wish for your sweet company Farewell to the jewel, to you I love best For you and your beauty excels all the rest But if you prove constant as constant can be Wherever I go, love, my heart is with thee Many hearts will be happy, but mine will be sad When I think on the joys that me and my love had When I mind on the time that you sat on my knee There was none in this world more happy than we Farewell to my joys, they are gone for a while Cold winter's away and the sweet summer smiles I have heard an old proverb, found it to he true That true love is better than gold from Peru. Come all my dear comrades, let's drink up our glass Each lad drink a health to his darling sweet lass Drink a health to each lover whose sweetheart is true Here's a health, peace, and plenty; so farewell and adieu! |
Farewell to Tarwathie Farewell to Tarwathie Adieu Mormond Hill And the dear land of Crimmond I bid you farewell I'm bound off for Greenland And ready to sail In hopes to find riches In hunting the whale Farewell to my comrades For a while we must part And likewise the dear lass Who first won my heart The cold coast of Greenland My love will not chill And the longer my absence More loving she'll feel Our ship is well rigged And she's ready to sail The crew they are anxious To follow the whale Where the icebergs do float And the stormy winds blow Where the land and the ocean Is covered with snow The cold coast of Greenland Is barren and bare No seed time nor harvest Is ever known there And the birds here sing sweetly In mountain and dale But there's no bird in Greenland To sing to the whale There is no habitation For a man to live there And the king of that country Is the fierce Greenland bear And there'll be no temptation To tarry long there With our ship bumper full We will homeward repair Farewell to Tarwathie Adieu Mormond Hill And the dear land of Crimmond I bid you farewell We're bound off for Greenland And ready to sail In hopes to find riches In hunting the whale |
Listen to Farewell to Tarwathie from:
Runa
Runa is a Celtic music group. They combine the traditional music of Ireland and Scotland with modern music such as folk and jazz. The band members are based in Philadelphia, Nashville, and Chicago - they come from Ireland, USA and Canada. Their influences include Mary Black, The Chieftains, U2, Solas, Karen Casey, Loreena McKennitt, Wolfstone, Nickel Creek, Sarah McLaughlin, Enya, Moya Brennan, Kate Rusby, Dervish, Gerry O'Beirne, Clannad, Natalie MacMaster, and Amos Lee.
Members
- Shannon Lambert-Ryan: vocals, step-dancing, bodhrán
- Fionán de Barra: guitar, vocals, bodhrán
- David Curley: mandolin, banjo, vocals, step-dancing, bodhrán
- Maggie Estes White: fiddle, mandolin
- Cheryl Prashker: percussion
Discography
- Jealousy (2009)
- Stretched on your Grave (2011)
- Somewhere along the Road (2012)
- Current Affairs (2014)
Farewell to Tarwathie
[Roud 2562; G/D 1:15; Ballad Index DTtarwat; George Scroggie]
This song about the ca. 1850 West Greenland right whale fishing was recorded around 1956 by Ewan MacColl for his and A.L. Lloyd's Riverside album Thar She Blows! (reissued in the 1960s on the Washington label as Whaling Ballads). A.L. Lloyd sang Farewell to Tarwathie in 1967 on his Topic album Leviathan! Ballads & Songs of the Whaling Trade. Here he was accompanied by Alf Edwards on English concertina. This track was reissued on the Fellside compilation CD Classic A.L. Lloyd.
A.L. Lloyd commented in the Leviathan! sleeve notes:
The stereotype of the oldtime whalemen is a hairychested ring-tailed roarer, hard worker, hard drinker, hard fighter. No doubt the description fitted many of them; nevertheless they often showed a strong liking for gentle meditative songs. Perhaps alone among all the songs on this record, Farewell to Tarwathie was made not by a whaleman, but by a miller, George Scroggie of Federate, near Aberdeen, around the middle of the 19th century. The tune is an old favourite, best known in connection with the song called Green Bushes.
Gordon McIntyre sang Farewell to Tarwathie in 1966 on Martyn Wyndham-Read, Danny Spooner and his Australian album A Wench, a Whale and a Pint of Good Ale. The album's sleeve notes commented:
Written about the middle of the last century by a Scot, George Scroggie, this song, gentle and reflective but tinged with bitterness, is one of the most beautiful of all sea songs.
Union Folk sang Farewell to Tarwathie in 1969 on their Traditional Sound album A Basketful of Oysters.
Judy Collins sang Farewell to Tarwathie, accompanied by humpback whales, on her 1970 album Whales and Nightingales. This track was also included in 1972 on her anthology Colors of the Day.
Ewan MacColl sang Farewell to Tarwathie in 1971 on The Critic Group's album As We Were A-Sailing.
Timoneers sang Farewell to Tarwathie on the Brum Folk 76 Souvenir Album.
White Hart sang Farewell to Tarwathie in 1969 on their Traditional Sound album In Search of Reward.
Danny Spooner sang Farewell tae Tarwathie on his 2002 CD Launch Out on the Deep. He noted:
Whaling at any time was a hard caper but in the days of sail it was a particularly rough and tough trade which required a tough breed of men. Yet a song like Farewell to Tarwathie reminds us that even the toughest of men might be touched by gentleness especially when separated from loved ones.
Brian MacNeill sang Farewell to Tarwathie at a Feast of Fiddles concert at Huntingdon Hall, Worcester, March 31, 2006. This was included in the following year on their CD Still Live.
Photo Credits:
(1) 'Farewell to Tarwathie',
(2) 'The Donside Emigrant's Farewell',
(3) Runa
(unknown/website).
