Remembering 'Gad Chuimhneachadh', a Skye Ceilidh Classic

Flòraidh Forrest breaks with convention and talks about the Gaelic song 'Gad Chuimhneachadh' by Donald Alex MacDonald, which isn't on the website.......

Over the past four years the West Highland Free Press has kindly allowed Tobar an Dualchais to publish a monthly essay relating to different aspects of the recordings available on our website.

This has been a great opportunity for us to encourage WHFP readers, from Kentucky to Kensaleyre, to visit the website which now hosts over 47,000 recordings, some 15,000 of which are of Gaelic songs.

Despite this tremendous volume of Gaelic songs, there are of course many that are not included on the website – even some that are relatively well known.

This month I am going to break with convention and write about one such song, ‘Gad Chuimhneachadh’ (Remembering You).

It’s a ceilidh classic and has been recorded commercially by some of our greatest Gaelic singers, including Alasdair Gillies (‘Island Heritage’), Calum Kennedy (‘Songs in Gaelic’) and Arthur Cormack (‘Ruith na Gaoithe’) and yet it has so far evaded Tobar an Dualchais.  

The song is about the heartache the bard feels when the love of his life is wooed by another man.

The emotions are raw and, as the bard admits, ‘foolish’, but he cannot help but continue to praise the woman for her warm and faultless nature.

The song shares the same attractive melody of ‘of ‘The Waters of Kylesku’, and it is believed that it was the famous singer, Archie Grant (1902-1991) who put the melody to these words.

Grant certainly sang the song often, ensuring its place as one of the most enduring Gaelic love songs of all time.

Despite its popularity, very few people know anything about the song’d composer. In her invaluable book, ‘Orain nan Eilein’ (Gaelic songs of Skye), Christine Martin writes that she was given the song by Jonathan MacDonald of Kilmuir who had credited the song to ‘a MacDonald’ from Kensaleyre.

When Arthur Cormack recorded his version in 1989, he was not able to uncover any information on who this MacDonald from Kensaleyre was, that is, until Rachel MacQueen (nee Ross), the love interest in the song, appeared at his office in Portree one day and told him the song was about her. 

RECONNECT

‘Gad Chuimhneachadh’ was recently brought to my attention when Marion Craig and her husband Michael called into the Tobar an Dualchais Office in Sleat in April 2024.

Marion explained that it was her uncle, Donald Alex MacDonald, who had composed the song and she wanted help in bringing this fact to the attention of the wider public.

She had of course seen and heard numerous videos and recordings of the song over the years, but none had ever mentioned Donald Alex.

We felt that by telling the story of the song in the West Highland Free Press we might help reconnect Donald Alex with ‘Gad Chuimhneachadh’ and celebrate his remarkable contribution to Gaelic song.

Donald Alex was born in 1914 in Manish in Harris and was one of 12 children to William MacDonald and Marion MacLeod.

He received good schooling there and in Skye where he developed an interest in poetry at a young age and had a good knowledge and repertoire of classic English poetry and, later, Robert Burns.

Donald Alex’s world changed dramatically in 1926 when he and his family moved to Skye.

It is thought that their move was not part of the Board of Agriculture’s migration scheme which saw over 400 people from Lewis and Harris relocate to Minginish in the 1920s.

Rather, the MacDonalds moved of their own volition and settled into a croft that had recently become available in Kensaleyre.

Whilst there he learned to play the pipes and would continue to play for the rest of his life.

Donald Alex went to sea with the Royal Navy in 1940 and, after the war, owned a grocer’s shop in Govan, a second home to many Sgitheanaich and other islanders then. 

At this time Rachel Ross, from  Marishader, was working as a ‘clippie’ on the Glasgow buses and as a barmaid.

She and Donald Alex became acquainted and began courting but the relationship ended and Rachel moved to Crieff where she became a joint owner of the Temperance Hotel there.

This is where Rachel met her husband, Murdo John MacQueen, who was a tailor and was lodging at the hotel.

The two were married in 1954 and returned to live and work on a croft in Staffin.

Rachel did not know until much later that ‘Gad Chuimhneachadh’ had been written for her. 

Donald Alex moved on too, also marrying in 1954, and settling in Ayrshire where he and his wife became the owners of the Black Bull Hotel in Tarbolton. When he retired around 1980, he moved to the Isle of Man and passed away there in 1988. 

TALENTED BARD

Arthur Cormack recalled that Jonathan MacDonald of Kilmuir believed Donald Alex to be a very talented bard and yet, ‘Gad Chuimhneachadh’ appears to be the only song by him that is known today.

There are certainly more songs of his, however. In the late 1970s, Donald Alex gifted his notebooks to his niece, Marion. She had often heard Donald Alex’s siblings mock him for his love song, calling it ‘Tàladh Raonaid’ (Rachel’s Lullaby), but Marion was always proud of her uncle’s song.

His notebooks contain about 20 songs in total, covering a range of subjects, including love and longing, war, humour and other more philosophical themes. It may well be that there are other gems waiting to be brought to life among them.  

Marion and Michael’s visit has given us at Tobar an Dualchais cause for a lot of reflection. We are reminded, once again, of the fragility and preciousness of living memory, and how stories and information surrounding songs and their composers can give immeasurably to the understanding and experiences of both listeners and performers.

It has also brought into focus the need for a Gaelic song index and a catalogue of concordant recordings that allows songs and composers to be researched.

A marvellous website along these lines, ‘Bliadhna nan Òran’, had been created by the BBC and ran for several years but it is no longer maintained or updated, to the deep regret of many.

Perhaps this was inevitable; we are only too aware of the expense and expertise required in maintaining a resource of such breadth.

What seems clear to me, however, is that protecting, preserving and promoting our oral heritage is a multifaceted and ongoing process that requires collaboration and cooperation – everyone has a part to play.

Many thanks to Marion and Michael Craig and to Arthur Cormack for their help with this article.