canasg choral music publishing - Còta fad air Dòmhnull Lòm

SG1505

Còta fad air Dòmhnull Lòm

(A long coat on skinny Donald)

traditional Gaelic words and tune

arranged by Sheena Phillips
for soprano, alto, tenor and bass chorus
SATB performance time approx 1m 00s (when sung twice through)

Arranger's note

This is a swinging piece of Gaelic puirt-a-beul ('poorsht-a-beel') or mouth music - the name for songs written to accompany dancing. It's well known in Scotland and describes the sorry appearance of a lanky lad named Donald who could sorely do with putting a comb through his hair. It has been arranged in a fast-moving canon which can quite easily turn into a competition between male and female voices as to who can keep going better.

Traditionally, puirt-a-beul is sung unaccompanied and in unison but the tunes harmonise very well. Frequently they are sung in sequences of three or four, each song leading without a break into the next. This song works well as the third in the following set of four: Tha bean agam; Chuala mi e; Còta fad air Dòmnhull lòm; 'S ann an Ile (all published by Canasg).

Music

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Hear a MIDI file of the song

Words

Còta fad air Dòmnhull lòm (a long coat on Skinny Donald)

Còta fad' air Dòmhnull lòm
Còta fad' air Dòmhnull lòm
Còta fad' 's briogais ghoirid
Siud an deis aig Dòmhnull lòm

Còta fad' air Dòmhnull lòm
Còta fad' air Dòmhnull lòm
Dosan dualach air a chìreadh
'S math thig cìrean air falt donn

traditional Gaelic song

Translation

A long coat on skinny Donald
A long coat and short trousers
That's skinny Donald's suit.

A long coat on skinny Donald
Combing his matted forelock -
It would be good if he could get a comb through his hair.

Canasg editors

Full pronunciation guide provided

Price per copy £1.00 ($1.50)

Note: This price is for the first 20 licensed copies of the song, further copies cost only 25% of this price.

Companion pieces

Browse the Scots and Gaelic section of the Canasg catalogue for more songs like this one. To go there now, click on the 'catalogue' box to the right.

Canasg Music