Fear a' Bhàta (The Boatman)

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Canadian folk musician Jesse Ferguson performs Sìne NicFhionnlaigh's song "Fear a' Bhàta (The Boatman)." This song is from the perspective of a young maiden waiting for her sailor to come home. The original is entirely in Scots Gaelic, and this version was translated by Silly Wizard. Chords and lyrics below.

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The Boatman
(Sìne NicFhionnlaigh, arrang. J. Ferguson, 2016)

Dm @ 2, 3/4 138 bpm

V1.
Dm C Am
How often haunting the highest hilltops
C Dm Am
I scan the ocean, I search the sea.
C Dm C F C
Wilt come tonight, love, wilt come tomorrow,
Am Dm C Am Dm
wilt ever come, love, to comfort me?

Chorus:
C F C
Fhear a bhata no horo eil'e.*
Am Dm Am
Fhear a bhata no horo eil'e.
C Dm C F C
Fhear a bhata no horo eil'e.
Am Dm C Am Dm
Oh fare thee well, love, where e'er ye be.

V2.
They call thee fickle; they call thee false one.
They seek to turn me but all in vain.
For thou art my dream all through the dark night,
and every morning I scan the sea.

Chorus:

V3.
There's not a hamlet, too well I know it,
where you go wandering or sit a while
but all the old folks you win with talking
and charm its maidens with song and smile.

Chorus:

V4.
Do you remember the promise made me:
the tartan plaidie, the silken gown,
the ring of gold with thy hair and portrait?
That gown and ring I will never know.

Chorus:

*Pronounced: “Eer ah VAH TAH, no ho-ro aye-lah”