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The Peat Fire Flame

from Gulf of St. Lawrence by Crosscurrents Music

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about

A tramping song for the campfire at the end of a long day in the Cape Breton Highlands. There’s much discussion on Mudcat.org about the origins of this song, which may have been written and/or translated from the Gaelic in the 1950s by Kenneth MacLeod in “Songs From the Hebrides,” and Marjory Kennedy-Fraser described it as a companion piece to The Road to the Isles. I can attest that at the time I learned it at Sight Point, Inverness in the 1970s, it was much sung as a traditional song at the Mabou milling frolics. Another version gives “light for love, for lilt o' grail-deeds,” but “for laughter” is our Camp Discovery version from camp handyman Dan Hughie MacIsaac.

lyrics

Far away and o'er the moor,
Far away and o'er the moor,
Far away and o'er the moor,
Morar waits for a boat that saileth,
Far away down Lowland way,
I dream the dream I learned, lad,

CHORUS:
By the light o' the peat-fire flame,
Light for love, for lilt, for laughter
By the light o' the peat-fire flame,
The light the hill-folk yearn for.

Far away and o'er the moor,
Far away and o'er the moor,
Far away, down Lowland way,
Grim's the toil, without tune or dream, lad,
All you need's a creel and love,
For the dream the heart can weave, lad
CHORUS

Far away and o'er the moor,
Far away the tramp and tread,
Tune and laughter of all the heroes,
Pulls me onward o'er the trail
Of the dream my heart may weave, lad,
 
By the light o' the peat-fire flame,
Light for love, for lilt o' grail-deeds,
By the light o' the peat-fire flame,
The light the hill-folk yearn for.

credits

from Gulf of St. Lawrence, released January 17, 2021
trad. Gaelic, trans. and/or © Kenneth MacLeod

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Crosscurrents Music Boston, Massachusetts

Lynn Noel brings traditional song and heritage arts online to create community. Lynn has a voice of striking clarity and power, equally at home in rhythmic chanteys and flowing ballads.

Lynn is a respected song session leader on both sides of the Atlantic and the producer and host of the Mermaid's Tavern online folk club. She is currently Program Chair of the New England Folk Festival (NEFFA). ... more

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