Fear a' Bhàta

There are many versions of the lyrics and of the melody:

{{Verse translation|lang=gd|

Gaelic verses

Séist:

Fhir a' bhàta, na hóro eile

Fhir a' bhàta, na hóro eile

Fhir a' bhàta, na hóro eile

Mo shoraidh slàn leat 's gach àit' an téid thu

'S tric mi sealltainn on chnoc as àirde

Dh'fheuch am faic mi fear a' bhàta

An tig thu 'n-diugh na 'n tig thu màireach

'S mar tig thu idir gur truagh a ta mi

Tha mo chridhe-sa briste brùite

'S tric na deòir a ruith o m' shùilean

An tig thu nochd na 'm bi mo dhùil riut

Na 'n dùin mi 'n doras le osna thùrsaich?

'S tric mi faighneachd de luchd nam bàta

Am fac' iad thu na 'm bheil thu sàbhailt

Ach 's ann a tha gach aon dhiubh 'g ràitinn

Gur gòrach mise ma thug mi gràdh dhut

Gheall mo leannan dhomh gùn dhen t-sìoda

Gheall e siud agus breacan rìomhach

Fàinn' òir anns am faicinn ìomhaigh

Ach 's eagal leam gun dèan e dìochuimhn'

Cha'n eil baile beag sam bi thu

Nach tamh thu greis ann a chuir do sgios diot

Bheir thu lamh air do leabhar riamhach

Ghabhail dhuanag, 's a bhuaireadh nianag

Ged a thuirt iad gun robh thu aotrom

Cha do lughdaich siud mo ghaol ort

Bidh tu m' aisling anns an oidhche

Is anns a' mhadainn bidh mi 'gad fhaighneachd

Thug mi gaol dhut 's chan fhaod mi àicheadh

Cha ghaol bliadhna 's cha ghaol ràithe

Ach gaol a thòisich nuair bha mi 'm phàiste

'S nach searg a chaoidh gus an claoidh am bàs mi

Tha mo chàirdean gu tric ag innseadh

Gum feum mi d' aogas a leig' air dìochuimhn'

Ach tha 'n comhairle dhomh cho dìomhain

'S bi tilleadh mara 's i toirt lìonaidh

Tha mo chriosan air dol an airde

Cha'n ann o fhidhlair, na o chlarsair

Ach o stiuireadair a bhata

'S mur tig thu dhathigh, s' truagh mar tha mi

Bidh mi tuille tùrsach deurach

Mar eala bhàn 's i an dèidh a reubadh

Guileag bàis aic' air lochan feurach

Is càch gu lèir an dèidh a trèigeadh{{cite book |last1=Stewart |first1=Alexander |last2=Stewart |first2=Donald |title=Cochruinneacha taoghta de shaothair nam bard Gaeach |date=1804 |publisher=Clodh-bhuailt le T. Stiuart |pages=339–341 |url=https://archive.org/details/cochruinneachata04stew/page/338/mode/2up?q=%22Fear+a+Bhata%22}}

|English translation

Chorus (after each verse):

O Boatman, no one else

O Boatman, no one else

O Boatman, no one else

My farewell to you wherever you go

I often look from the highest hill

That I might see my boatman

Will you come tonight, or will you come tomorrow

Oh sorry will I be if you do not come at all

My heart is broken, bruised

Often tears are running down from my eyes

Will you come tonight, or will I wait up for you

Or close the door with a sad sigh?

I often ask of the boatmen

If they have seen you, if you are safe

But they all tell me

That I was foolish if I gave you love.

My darling promised me a gown of silk

That and a fine tartan

A golden ring in which I'd see a likeness

But I fear that he shall forget.

There is no small town where you will be

Don't you stay there for a while to relieve your fatigue

You will touch your eternal book

You will take a child, and its temptation will be a child

Although they said you were flighty

That did not lessen my love for you

You are in my dreams at night

And in the morning I ask for you.

I gave you love and cannot deny

It's not love that lasts a year or a season

But a love that began when I was a child

And that will not wither until death do take me.

My friends say often

That I must forget your image

But their counsel is as unfathomable to me

As is the returning tide.

My belts have risen

Not from a fiddler, nor from a harpist

But from a conductor of a stick

And if you don't come home, I'm miserable.

I am all too sad and tearful

Like a white swan that has been torn

Sounding her death-call on a small grassy loch

Having been forsaken by all.

}}

According to legend, the poem was written by Sìne NicFhionnlaigh (Jean Finlayson) of Tong who was courting a young fisherman from Uig, Dòmhnall MacRath. In some versions of the legend they were married not long after she composed the song.{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/alba/oran/people/sine_nicfhionnlaigh/ |title=BBC ALBA – Bliadhna nan Òran – Òrain : Sgrìobhaichean, Sìne NicFhionnlaigh |publisher=Bbc.co.uk |date=1970-01-01 |accessdate=2013-09-02}}{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/alba/foghlam/beag_air_bheag/songs/song_03/index.shtml |title=Beag Air Bheag - Learn a Gaelic Song |publisher=BBC |date=1970-01-01 |accessdate=2013-09-02}} Contemporary scholars and 19th century sources describe the author of the poem as unknown.{{cite book |last1=Mackenzie |first1=John |last2=Logan |first2=James |title=Sar-obair nam bard gaelach: or, The beauties of Gaelic poetry, and lives of the Highland bards; with historical and critical notes, and a comprehensive glossary of provincial words |date=1841 |publisher=Glasgow, Macgregor, Polson |page=lv |url=https://archive.org/details/edsarobairnambar00mack/page/n67/mode/2up?q=fhir |quote=[...] many a popular song is the work of obscure or unknown peasants and seafaring men. Such are Fhir a bhata, Air mo run geal òg, and numerous others}}{{cite journal |last1=Byrne |first1=Michel |title=A Window on the Late Eighteenth-Century Scottish Highlands: The Songs of Mairearad Ghriogarach |journal=Proceedings of the Harvard Celtic Colloquium |date=2010 |volume=30 |pages=39–60 |jstor=41219651 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41219651 |issn=1545-0155}}

Fear a' Bhàta is written in the unusual time signature of 9/8, and the piece is taken in the key of Eb Major, at a pace of around 90bpm, although many artists take the piece at a faster pace, simplifying the time signature for ease. {{Cite web |last=Musescore |title=Fear a' Bhàta |url=https://musescore.com/user/59029630/scores/19999498 |access-date=2025-05-29 |website=Musescore.com |language=en}}

• Ailein duinn
• Chì mi na mòrbheanna
• Gaelic music

{{Reflist}}

• [http://www.electricscotland.com/ssf/Songs/fear.htm Lyrics for full traditional version]
• [http://www.celticlyricscorner.net/capercaillie/fear.htm Lyrics for all versions]
• [https://www.bbc.co.uk/alba/foghlam/beag_air_bheag/songs/song_03/index.shtml Sìneag MacIntyre's rendition on the BBC website for learners of Gaelic ]

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Category:Scottish songs

Category:18th-century songs

Category:18th century in Scotland

Category:Scottish Gaelic music

Category:Year of song unknown

Category:Scottish Gaelic poems