Under Glamaig – It’s unlikely I will ever climb again

Lyrics

Chorus: It’s unlikely I will ever climb again
to the high mountain deer-forest
It’s unlikely I will ever climb again

I received a letter from Edinburgh
(saying) I’m no longer allowed to go to the mountain

It was Big Peter from the head of Loch Aoineart
who played the dirty trick though it gained him nothing

My slender gun has grown rusty,
I won’t take it hunting again

It is a pity I am not on Glamaig
with it full on a knoll

Taking stock of the mountainsides,
habitat of the deer

Often I killed the deer of the mountainside peaks,
kneeling with bent elbows

If it hadn’t been for my mother’s brother
the deer of the high hills would still be blooded

But since the law has become so rigorous
it’s better to be safe than sorry

I’m going to leave this country now –
I can’t find peace of mind here any more

Peter will see me no more upon the horizon,
no more will he hear the racket of my gun

How I chose the Song

I wanted to research songs from the village I grew up in – Sconser on the Isle of Skye. I already knew of the song “Seinneam cliù nam fear ùr” that was written by Iain Dhòmhnaill Bhàin (John MacLeod) from Torramiochaig (a village that used to be close to Sconser, and the area of Sconser nowadays that I grew up in). I wasn’t sure if I would find anything else from the area, but I went to speak to Hector Nicolson from Sconser (who knows a lot about Sconser from his own family and research) to ask if he knew of any songs from the area. He told me of a song he knew about called “Fo Glàmaig”, and that one of the lines in it is “Pàdraig Mòr aig Ceann Loch Aoineart” (Big Peter at Kinloch Aoineart). “Big Peter” (Peter MacIntyre) used to be Lord MacDonald’s factor for the deer forest he had in Sconser. With help from Deirdre Graham and Jo MacDonald we found out that the song Hector knew was “’S gann gun dìrich mi chaoidh” by Norman Nicolson of Scorrybrek. Though the song isn’t directly from Sconser, I did enjoy learning about the connection between the song and the village.

The Author

Norman Nicolson from Scorrybrek is the one who wrote this song. Norman was born in 1798, and he was also known as “Fear òg Sgoirebreac”. In 1825, he left the Isle of Skye with his younger brothers to go to New Brunswick in Canada, and from there he went to Australia. Norman was drowned in Tasmania in 1841.

The Song

Norman wrote this song after he received a letter telling him he could no longer go hunting on MacDonald’s land. We learn how he feels about being told this in the song, and that he blames Big Peter (Peter MacIntyre) from Kinloch Aoineart, who was Lord MacDonald’s factor at the time. Some say that Big Peter might have been his uncle, but some say his uncle was the lawyer who sent him the letter to stop poaching.