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Driftwood is burning blue, wild walk the wall shadows,
Night winds go riding by, riding by the lochie meadows.
On to the ring of day flows Mira's stream, singing:
Caidil gu la laddie, la, laddie, sleep the stars away.
Far on Beinn Bhreagh's side wander the lost lambies.
Here, there and everywhere, everywhere their troubled mammies
Find them and fold them deep, fold them to sleep, singing:
Caidil gu la laddie, la, laddie, sleep the moon away.
Daddy is on the bay, he'll keep the pot brewin',
Keep all from tumblin' down, tumblin' down to rack and ruin;
Pray, Mary, send him home safe from the foam, singing:
Caidil gu la laddie, la, laddie, sleep the dark away.
The YouTube video above features a variant arranged and recorded by Ryan's Fancy (Looking Back, trk#12, 1972, Audat Records, Oshawa, ON).
See more songs by Ryan's Fancy.
Caidil gu la — title of a fiddle tune in the Captain Simon Fraser [1773-1852] Collection (The Airs And Melodies Peculiar To The Highlands Of Scotland And The Isles, 1816). One translation given to this Scottish Gaelic phrase is Sleep (on) till day.
