Mairi's Wedding

Mairi's Wedding (also known as Marie's Wedding, the Lewis Bridal Song, or Mairi Bhan) is a Scottish folk song originally written in Gaelic by John Roderick Bannerman (1865–1938) for Mary C. MacNiven (1905–1997) on the occasion of her winning the gold medal at the National Mod in 1934. In 1959, James B. Cosh devised a Scottish country dance to the tune, which is 40 bars, in reel time.

Origins

J. R. Bannerman was born in South Uist but left aged seven for Glasgow where he later joined the General Post Office (GPO) as a telegaph boy and rose to become general superintendent. He was brought up in the Glasgow Gaelic community where most social activities were conducted in Gaelic and he developed a lifelong interest in the songs and literature of that culture. His son, John MacDonald Bannerman became a well known Gaelic broadcaster and singer, but better known as a rugby international (37 caps for Scotland; Oxford Blue) and Liberal politician, ultimately being ennobled as John Bannerman Lord Bannerman of Kildonan. Winning the Mod gold medal was (and is) regarded as the highest singing award in Scottish Gaeldom, and Mairi's Wedding was composed to recognise this achievement. A track of Mary C. MacNiven singing her winning song at the 1934 Mod is still available and the Mod has founded a memorial salver competition to honour her name. Her wedding did not in fact take place until some six years later when she married Captain John Campbell of Glendale, Skye.She continued to sing at Gaelic concerts and céilidhs for most of her life, and died aged 91 at her native Portnahaven, Islay in 1997. The song "Mairi's Wedding" was first performed for her at the Highlanders' Institute, then in Glasgow's Elmbank Street, and, at that time, a focal point of cultural and social activity for the Highlands and Islands community in the city. It was probably through this performance that Sir Hugh Stevenson Roberton came to know the song. Roberton was conductor of the Glasgow Orpheus Choir, which had by the early 1930s acquired international recognition under his leadership. His knighthood in 1931, promoted by his friend Ramsey MacDonald, whose radical politics he shared, established him as the leading British choirmaster and as a colossus within the Glasgow musical world. Although the choir had a vast repertoire, Roberton had inherited a particular fondness for folk music from his mother, and in addition to writing choral arrangements of traditional songs, he composed his own. Roberton had collaborated with John R. Bannerman on other songs destined to become internationally successful. For the song "Joy of my Heart" Roberton wrote the English words and asked Bannerman to produce a Gaelic version; the tune for the "Uist Tramping Song" was written by Bannerman with the English words by Roberton. John M. Bannerman claimed that his father had written the tune for the song "Westering Home" yet this was not acknowledged in Roberton's published scores. In a London court case in 1960 Sir Hugh's executors failed to prove that he had written the tune and costs were awarded to Miss (now Dame) Vera Lynn who had recorded "Travelling Home" to the same tune. Roberton wrote the English words for "Mairi's Wedding", which was, as can be seen by the lyrics below in both languages, a very loose translation of Bannerman's original. He published this in 1936 giving the song the alternative title of "The Lewis Bridal Song". Roberton presented an original signed copy of his score to Mary C.MacNiven and it became one of her most prized possessions. When the song was published in Roberton's "Songs of the Isles" by J Curwen & Sons Ltd (1951) the Gaelic words did not appear and Bannerman was not acknowledged, the tune being "noted from Dr. Peter A. MacLeod."

Lyrics

The Gaelic version begins:

"S i mo ghaol-sa Màiri Bhàn

Màiri bhòidheach sgeul mo dhàin,

Gaol mo chridh'-sa Màiri Bhàn,

S tha mi 'dol 'ga pòsadh."

A literal translation into English would be:

She's my darling, Fair Mary

Pretty Mary, story of my song,

Darling of my heart, Fair Mary,

And I'm going to her wedding''

Roberton's version in English is:

Step we gaily on we go

Heel for heel and toe for toe

Arm and arm and row on row

All for Mairi's wedding

Recorded versions

Mairi's Wedding has been recorded by a wide variety of musicians.

• Alexander Brothers "Best of"
• Moira Anderson on "The Best of Scotland: Twenty Tracks of Traditional Scottish Music"
• Moira Anderson, "A Land for All Seasons"
• Bantry Bay, "Set the Sails"
• Van Morrison and The Chieftains, Irish Heartbeat
• The Clancy Brothers
• The Corries, "Kishmul's Galley"
• Paul Dooley "Rip the Calico"
• Fiddler's Green, "Drive Me Mad!"
• Clive Gregson used the same tune for a song called "Mairi's Divorce" on his album "People and Places"
• The High Kings, "The High Kings"
• Noel Hill, "The Irish Concertina Two"
• The King's Singers, "Annie Laurie: Folk Songs of the British Isles"
• The King's Singers, "Mairi's Wedding"
• John Martyn, "Sunday's Child, part of the message"
• Kenneth McKellar on "Wild Conserves"
• Orthodox Celts, "Green Roses"
• The Rankin Family taking it to number one in Canada. From the album The Rankin Family, 1989.
• Rapalje, "Rakish Paddies"
• Alan Stivell, "Brian Boru"
• Andy Stewart "Donald, Where's Your Troosers?"
• Richard Thompson, as an instrumental to "Nobody's Wedding" on Henry the Human Fly
• The Wiggles, "Hoop Dee Doo"
• Robert Wilson, "The Voice of Scotland"
• Marillion, "Margaret"
• Marie's Wedding is the basis for the guitar solo in "Skye," by Scottish band Runrig.
• Billy Connolly played a comical version on the banjo in a medley with Campbell's Farewell To The Red Castle, and The Soldier's Joy (songs which he claimed his music teacher forced him and the rest of his class to "appreciate").

Use in Film

• Jim Corr wrote two additional verses for the movie Passed Away. They are the only ones heard clearly in the movie.
• The song appears in the deleted scenes of the 3-disc special edition DVD of Peter Jackson's 2005 version of King Kong. It is heard while Naomi Watts and Jamie Bell are dancing on the deck of the tramp steamer Venture as it steams toward Skull Island. The song is not heard in the movie itself, however, so it is not clear whether its presence on the DVD is the result of film score composer James Newton Howard, who replaced Howard Shore, Shore himself, or the producer of the DVD.
• The first two lines of "Mairi's Wedding" are quoted by the Scottish protagonist in Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, and an excerpt from the Brigham Phillips version of the song later plays in the soundtrack.

External links

• Cantaria
• Standing Stones
• Mudcat Cafe message board threads
• Video with Johh Shand playing and dancing
• Information on origin and dance instructions