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Subject: Lyr Add: SMILE IN YOUR SLEEP (Jim McLean)^^^ From: Alice Date: 26 Nov 99 - 08:32 PM A friend sent me lyrics to the lullaby that is called, I think, Mist On The Mountain (NOT Mist Covered Mountains). I don't know if this is trad or has a known author. Here is what he wrote, without the title:
Hush, hush, time to be sleeping,
Once our valleys were ringing,
We stood with heads bowed in prayer,
Where was our fierce highland mettle,
No use in crying or pleading, -alice Note:This song, properly known as "Smile in Your Sleep," was written by Jim McLean. It appears unattributed in the Digital Tradition, under the title Don't Cry In Your Sleep (click). I submitted a corrected attribution to the Digital Tradition.-Joe Offer-
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Subject: RE: Tune Req: Hush, hush time to be sleeping From: sophocleese Date: 26 Nov 99 - 08:40 PM Alice, I have a record of Cromdale doing this. It is sung to the tune of Mist Covered Mountains.Could there have been a mix up in the name somewhere? What you've written as the first verse is used as the chorus. Cromdale add an instrumental break using another tune called The Haunting, together they sound very lovely. |
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Subject: RE: Tune Req: Hush, hush time to be sleeping From: Alice Date: 26 Nov 99 - 08:50 PM There are two different tunes that are called Mist Covered Mountains, and the one for this lullaby I have also heard called Mist on the Mountain. If you put "Mist" in the forum search and set the days to 3 years, you will find the Mist Covered Mountains threads, including the one that provides Gaelic. That is the one I think you are referring to ... Oro, soon shall I see them, oh hee ro, see them oh, see them....
This tune to the lullaby is played by a couple of the fiddle players at our session, and I know it is a bit varied from the other Mist Covered Mountains. The fiddle player that wrote out the lyrics mentioned a recording that he has of it, but I can't remember the name of the band who did it. If no one here comes up with it, I'll ask him some other time. Maybe they are just playing it in their own variation so that it doesn't sound so much the same to me. -alice |
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Subject: RE: Tune Req: Hush, hush time to be sleeping From: Big Mick Date: 26 Nov 99 - 09:27 PM Absolutely beautiful song, which I have been singing for about 10 years now. I heard Barley Bree do it, and fell in love with it. It tells a story of the Highland Evictions. This was a period in time when Merry Old England decided, as they did in Ireland, that the trouble with Scotland was those cursed Scottish Highlanders. So they set about evicting them from their land, killing the Clan leaders, etc. By the way, in the third verse, second line, the second word should be "factors" not "battles". The Factor was the man who carried out the Lord's wishes, and usually handled the financial end of things. In the movie "Rob Roy" this man that was taken to the Island and killed by Macgregor's wife. In most cases they were not well liked. I just had a few minutes and popped in. I miss you all, and will be back on a regular basis in 3 to 4 weeks. All the best, Mick |
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Subject: RE: Tune Req: Hush, hush time to be sleeping From: CE Morgan Date: 26 Nov 99 - 09:28 PM A wonderful song! The tune is indeed the same as "The Mist-Covered Mountains": however, when our group sings it, it's in A minor, so the F remains natural. Instrumental versions I have are the same notes, but with a G key sig, so the F gets sharpened. It makes for a very different sound. I am a new member of this group, so I'm not too sure what their source was. Lyrics are the same as you listed, although you have an additional verse not in our version ("where was our highland mettle"), which I really like, so I think I'm going to see about adding it to our version! Cindy Ellen |
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Subject: RE: Tune Req: Hush, hush time to be sleeping From: Liz the Squeak Date: 26 Nov 99 - 09:31 PM Doesn't work as a lullaby though, took my daughter to a song session at a festival (supposed to be my outing alone, but stupid SO double booked himself and couldn't get another babysitter, grrr grrr), and she yelled all the way through it. Took her out and up to a screaming heaving dance tent and she was asleep in under 10 minutes... Contrary little cow that she is..... LTS |
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Subject: RE: Tune Req: Hush, hush time to be sleeping From: Jon Freeman Date: 26 Nov 99 - 09:40 PM Just wish I could find or know the tune to The Mist Covered Mountains - have known the son "Hush Hush..." for years (incedentally the person I learnt it fro did use the "Hush Hush Time to be sleeping..." as both first verse and chorus) but can't find the other tune to compare with what I learned. Jon |
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Subject: RE: Tune Req: Hush, hush time to be sleeping From: sophocleese Date: 26 Nov 99 - 10:11 PM Cindy Ellen my husband, a piper, just pointed out to me that when played on the pipes in Bm the G would be a natural. What would happen if a crazy fiddler got hold of it I don't know.... |
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Subject: RE: Tune Req: Hush, hush time to be sleeping From: Lesley N. Date: 26 Nov 99 - 10:17 PM The words are by Jim MacLean who set them to Mist Covered Mountains. I have the words, a midi by Barry Taylor and a link to the lyrics of MCM at: Smile in Your Sleep (http://www.contemplator.com/folk3/hushhush.html) |
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Subject: RE: Tune Req: Hush, hush time to be sleeping From: sophocleese Date: 26 Nov 99 - 10:27 PM Well I've just listened to the tune as played on Lesley N's site. I sing it a little differently. There he's/she's (?) playing that raised 6th of the minor scale, I sing that flatter, as Cindy Ellen said. |
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Subject: RE: Tune Req: Hush, hush time to be sleeping From: Jeri Date: 26 Nov 99 - 10:33 PM The version in the DT has the "mettle" verse, but not the third verse Alice posted. Other differences, too. Don't Cry In Your Sleep |
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Subject: RE: Tune Req: Hush, hush time to be sleeping From: Jon Freeman Date: 26 Nov 99 - 10:45 PM I don't know whether its a 6th or what but again, the version of the tune I learned is slightly different in terms of a note being flattened or sharpened. Jon |
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Subject: RE: Tune Req: Hush, hush time to be sleeping From: Jeremiah McCaw Date: 27 Nov 99 - 02:37 AM For very fine rendition of "Hush, Hush" check out Bobby Watt's (ex-Cromdale) first solo CD, "Homeland". For a lovely version of "Mist-covered ..." in Gaelic, look for the Rankin Family; their first self-titled CD, I do believe. |
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Subject: RE: Tune Req: Hush, hush time to be sleeping From: Alice Date: 27 Nov 99 - 09:36 AM So, what I am reading is that there are variations of the tune when sung with these lullaby lyrics. It really threw me off when I heard it played by the fiddle player here, since I have known the Mist Covered Mountains (oro soon shall I see them) for a very long time, but this one sounded different. Lesley, your website was one of the first I looked through for the tune, along with Robinson's, but I wasn't using the titles people have called it in this list.
Mick, thanks for the Factor.
So, what is the most often used title for this song?
I'll have to ask the fiddle player again what recording he got this from. -alice flynn |
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Subject: RE: Tune Req: Hush, hush time to be sleeping From: sophocleese Date: 27 Nov 99 - 10:47 AM I always called it Hush, Hush. |
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Subject: RE: Tune Req: Hush, hush time to be sleeping From: Lesley N. Date: 27 Nov 99 - 01:08 PM I first heard the song in Inverness as Hush, Hush - and looked for it a long time under that title without finding it same as you!
There are so many alternate titles to so many tunes! I used to get tons of mail asking for a tune that was already on my pages - so I put the search engine up. It's pretty slow because there's so much to go through (I'd like to find one that would be speedy, cheap and not add a lot of extra storage space... every webmaster in the world in laughing..) It will find stuff by phrase - sort of a poor person's mudcat type of search. A lot of people start there because they don't like the background music! Of course the search engine isn't perfect either. There are several ways to spell bonnie, etc, etc, etc... Just look at all the trouble we have at the cat! I sometimes still can't figure out why something doesn't show up when it's there all the time! |
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Subject: RE: Tune Req: Hush, hush time to be sleeping From: Susan A-R Date: 27 Nov 99 - 04:19 PM I heard this one on an Allistair McLean recording (not sure if I have the spelling of his name right,) along with a lot of other Clearances songs, incuding Shores of Sutherland, another thread a week or two back. I don't think it's Mist Covered Mountains, but then folk music does interesting things to tune names and such. It sounds as if it is a recent song, though? Is this the case, or did this person collect it? Susan A-R |
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Subject: RE: Tune Req: Hush, hush time to be sleeping From: Alice Date: 27 Nov 99 - 05:06 PM Susan, I think Allistair McLean was the recording the fiddler mentioned to me.... rings a bell. Now that I think of it, it does sound like a version of Mist Covered Mountains. |
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Subject: RE: Tune Req: Hush, hush time to be sleeping From: GUEST,Philippa Date: 24 Jul 02 - 09:49 AM refreshing because Jim MacLean has joined Mudcat |
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Subject: Tune Add: THE MIST COVERED MOUNTAINS From: GUEST,Philippa Date: 24 Jul 02 - 10:11 AM the DT doesn't include the tune, but it has been posted (from Barry Taylor's contemplator site transcription of Mist Covered Mountains) on Mudcat: a href=http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=7564#45749> tune added Click to get the midi, I am pasting the abc into this thread. X:1 T:THE MIST COVERED MOUNTAINS M:3/4 Q:1/4=134 K:C A6|A6|e3de2|e3dB2|G6|G4A2|B3AB2|A3GE2|c6| d6|e3^fg2|B3AG2|A3Be2|d3cB2|A6|A6|A6|A6|e3de2| e3dB2|G6|G4A2|B3AB2|A3GE2|c6|d6|e3^fg2|B3AG2| A3Be2|d3cB2|A6|A6|e6|e6|d3eg2|e3dB2|G4G2| d4B2|e4e2|d3cB2|A6|c6|d3eg2|B3AG2|A3Be2|d3cB2| A6|A6|e6|e6|d3eg2|e3dB2|G4G2|d4B2|e4e2|d3cB2| A6|c6|d3eg2|B3AG2|A3Be2|d3cB2|A6|A6|-A2|| |
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Subject: RE: Tune Req: Hush, hush time to be sleeping From: GUEST,Jim Mclean Date: 24 Jul 02 - 01:13 PM I wrote the song as Smile in your Sleep and it is published by Carlin Music under this title. I set to Mist covered Mountains of Home although it varies in places due to the mood of the words. Cheers, Jim Mclean |
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Subject: RE: Tune Req: Hush, hush time to be sleeping From: Noreen Date: 24 Jul 02 - 01:17 PM Welcome, Jim. I love this song. |
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Subject: RE: Tune Req: Hush, hush time to be sleeping From: Jim McLean Date: 30 Jul 02 - 11:53 AM I should have said I set the words of Smile in your Sleep AKA Hush Hush, to the pipe version of Mist covered mountains of Home. The pipe version: after Hush, hush, the words --- time to be sle-ep-- stay on the same note, only dropping on --ing.( if that makes sense!) In the song Mist covered mountains of Home, the 4th syllable drops immediately! Cheers, Jim McLean |
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Subject: RE: Tune Req: Hush, hush time to be sleeping From: GUEST Date: 30 Jul 02 - 01:12 PM What are your and other recorded versions that you are aware of Jim? Or others are aware of too... I recall an MP3 of the song floating around MP3.com by a group named (I think) Tam Lin a year or so ago? That too was lovely. But I don't think it is available as an MP3 anymore, as the band has since broken up.
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Subject: RE: Tune Req: Hush, hush time to be sleeping From: Jim McLean Date: 30 Jul 02 - 02:23 PM I don't really get to know all the recordings until I get my MCPS statements and sometimes the recordings slip through their net as knowingly or unknowingly artists change the title and register it as trad. This has happened with a few of my works. A recent recording I received from Lynn Morrison, Cave of Gold on Greentrax, is very poignant although she has written some new words to it!! Again I don't get to hear the song unless I buy the CD usually so I was grateful to Lynn. Cheers, Jim McLean |
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Subject: RE: Tune Req: Hush, hush time to be sleeping From: Big Mick Date: 30 Jul 02 - 06:43 PM Jim, I want to add my voice to the chorus of welcomes. And I want to thank you for writing Hush, Hush. This is a song I have loved since the first time I heard it. The band was Barley Bree and they did a wonderful version of it. Thanks and all the best, Mick |
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Subject: RE: Tune Req: Hush, hush time to be sleeping From: Morticia Date: 30 Jul 02 - 06:49 PM Jim, you aren't the Jim McLean I know from Surrey Social Services, are you? |
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Subject: RE: Tune Req: Hush, hush time to be sleeping From: GUEST Date: 30 Jul 02 - 11:07 PM Hah! I found them. Tam Lyn is the name of the band, from So Cal. The title they use at their website is the Hush, Hush title. Here is their website: http://www.celticband.com/ I have a feeling there may be quite a few recordings of your song going by the name Hush, Hush, and claiming it as traditional. I've heard more than one musician friend claim that it was (though I've corrected them!) |
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Subject: RE: Tune Req: Hush, hush time to be sleeping From: Jim McLean Date: 31 Jul 02 - 07:52 AM No,Morticia, I am not Jim Mclean |
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Subject: RE: Tune Req: Hush, hush time to be sleeping From: Jim McLean Date: 31 Jul 02 - 07:53 AM Sorry!! I should have said I am not that Jim McLean!!!! |
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Subject: RE: Tune Req: Hush, hush time to be sleeping From: Alice Date: 31 Jul 02 - 06:28 PM Jim, thanks for arriving here to enlighten. I saw this thread a couple of days ago and had totally forgotten that I was the one who started it until I clicked on it today! Now, where did my memory go....... Alice |
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Subject: RE: Tune Req: Hush, hush time to be sleeping From: Joe Offer Date: 05 Sep 02 - 07:39 PM Jim, are the lyrics in the first message correct? Thanks. -Joe Offer- |
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Subject: RE: Tune Req: Hush, hush time to be sleeping From: Jim McLean Date: 06 Sep 02 - 03:40 AM Joe, the second line in the second verse should read While factors laid our cottages bare Factors were the agents, rent collectors, like Sellar who was actually tried but got off. Thanks Jim McLean |
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Subject: RE: Tune Req: Hush, hush time to be sleeping From: An Croenen Date: 06 Sep 02 - 11:58 AM I bought the cd 'Bib & Tuck' by Maddy Prior & the Girls(2002, Parkrecords, PO Box 651, Oxford OX2 9RB) only last weekend, as it happens, and it has a version of Hush hush on it. Disconcertingly it states "words and music Prior/Kemp/Lathe". If they have just taken your song thinking it's a traditional, it would still have been nice to state it was a traditional. I feel a bit gutted by this, because I love the cd. It's very beautiful apart from a song called 'The dead are not dead', which perhaps understandibly gives me the creeps. Hush, hush happens to be my favourite tune on the cd, and one that pops up into my consciousness frequently. Which is why I started to read this thread in the first place. Thank you for such a lovely song. An |
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Subject: RE: Tune Req: Hush, hush time to be sleeping From: Jim McLean Date: 06 Sep 02 - 12:21 PM Thanks An Croenen, I'll try and contact the company. This happens quite a lot and of course other people read the credits on the inlay card and the error is mutiplied. The company should apply to MCPS before issuing the cd and MCPS would put them straight. Often however they print the notes first. Thanks for now, Jim |
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Subject: RE: Tune Req: Hush, hush time to be sleeping From: Jim McLean Date: 06 Sep 02 - 02:51 PM I cantacted Park records and they said it was a typing error and should have read Trad: arranged Prior/Kemp/Lathe. A nice chap explained they had contacted Cecil Sharpe House, that bastion of English Dance and folk Song, and they had told them the song was trad! MCPS also seemingly said it was copyright control and Trad!! What can one do? I'll be contacting MCPS on Monday. Thanks for bringing this to my attention as no doubt other songwriters are being derived of their income.Thanks An Croenen. Jim Mclean |
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Subject: RE: Tune Req: Hush, hush time to be sleeping From: An Croenen Date: 06 Sep 02 - 05:51 PM Hope it all turns out for the best for you. In the mean time, be chuffed everyone mistakes it for a trad. in the first place - nice complement, really. I couldn't figure out from this thread whether you have your own cd's and perhaps the very first original version of this song recorded somewhere. As a singer I am dying to discover other songs you've written. An |
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Subject: RE: Tune Req: Hush, hush time to be sleeping From: Jim McLean Date: 07 Sep 02 - 06:56 AM Hi An Croenen, I have sent you a Personal Message with some details. Cheers, Jim Mclean |
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Subject: RE: Tune Req: Hush, hush time to be sleeping From: Big Mick Date: 07 Sep 02 - 08:30 AM Jim, please.............your modesty is depriving the rest of us. On the Mudcat it is not only permissable but one is encouraged to promote their work. Please share with all of us about your recordings and other songs. I would be grateful. Mick |
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Subject: RE: Tune Req: Hush, hush time to be sleeping From: Jim McLean Date: 07 Sep 02 - 09:45 AM OK Big Mick: I wrote a number of 'theme' LPs during the fifties, sixties and seventies. I contributed to Ding Dong Dollar, I wrote 'Scottish Republican Songs', an LP on Major Minor sung by Nigel Denver; LP (Scottish)Battle Ballads which included a number of Highland Clearance songs --'Shores of Sutherland', 'The Fire Raisers', 'Smile in your Sleep','Henny Munroe', 'The Laird's Prayer' and 'Stirling Brig' 'The (Scottish) Sabbath'; A compilation of Burns songs, an LP with Hugh MacDiarmid the Scottish Poet, an LP called 'Scotland in Song' sung by Alastair McDonald who later 'cloned' it right down to the cassette cover for another company!; an LP of Jacobite songs including some of my own; a couple of LPs on Decca for Nigel Denver which included 'The Barras' and 'The Massacre of Glencoe'; an LP called 'Scotland First' for Alastair McDonald 1970 which included 'The Declaration of Arbroath (1320)', 'Singin the Booze'. I also wrote 'Seven Deadly Sins' and two extra verses for the Burns song 'Tibbie Dunbar', both sung by The Dubliners. I produced an LP for Jimmie Macgregor and Robin Hall plus a single for Robin. I produced and wrote some songs for Unity Creates Strength, an LP to support the Upper Clyde Shipbuilders who had a work-in. I also set music to and ammended dozens of Scottish folk songs over the years. I produced LPs for other Scottish Folksingers and outside of the Folk circle, I produced two LPs for Kenny Ball and his Jazzmen and various other club 'acts' including Little and Large. My piece de resistance is that I found the Nolan Sisters in 1972 and produced their first LP!! I'm afraid I cannot list everything but hope that's enough to go on with! Cheers, Jim McLean
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Subject: RE: Tune Req: Hush, hush time to be sleeping From: Big Mick Date: 07 Sep 02 - 03:20 PM Thanks, Jim. I knew most of that, but I had know idea you found The Nolan Sisters. Congratulations. And thanks for sharing this information. I know it can be a bit embarassing, but it helps when folks know that they are dealing with first rate performers and writers. I have such respect for your work, most especially that which deals with the human toll paid in social issues. One of the reasons I love your work with regard to the Highland evictions, is that it educates. The Highland Evictions and the persecution of the highlanders is such an important piece of history. It is in these songs that we remember. And when we remember, it is harder to repeat. That is why the frame of reference is so important. Congratulations on your body of work. May it be only the first act. All the best, Mick |
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Subject: DTCorrection: Smile In Your Sleep From: Joe Offer Date: 29 Oct 03 - 01:57 PM Hi, Jim - I wanted to make sure we have the lyrics and attribution exactly right in the Digital Tradition. These are the lyrics Alice posted in the first message, with a few corrections. Can you look this over and tell me if there are any corrections needed in words, verse order, or spelling? Is the word spelled "sheeling"? Copyright date? How to contact for recording rights? Correct title/alternate titles? Is the tune correct? click to play Thanks a lot, Jim. It's a lovely song. Big Mick sang it beautifully at the Washington (DC) Getaway a couple of weeks ago. -Joe Offer- SMILE IN YOUR SLEEP (Hush, Hush) (Jim McLean) CHORUS Hush, hush, time to be sleeping, Hush, hush, dreams are a creeping, Dreams of peace and of freedom, So smile in your sleep Bonnie Baby. 1. Once our valleys were ringing, With sounds of our children singing, But now sheep bleat till the evening, And shielings lie empty and broken. 2. We stood with heads bowed in prayer, While factors laid our cottages bare, The flames licked the clear mountain air, And many were dead by the morning. 3. Where was our proud Highland mettle, Our men once so famed in battle, Now stand cowed, huddled like cattle, And soon to be shipped o'er the ocean. 4. No use pleading or praying, Now gone, gone, all hope of staying, So hush, hush the anchors a-weighing, Don't cry in your sleep, bonnie baby. Words and music Jim McLean Published by Duart Music London 1963
-Joe Offer- This tune is from Jim's sheet music (http://ingeb.org/images/hushhush.gif): click to play |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Hush, hush time to be sleeping From: Jim McLean Date: 29 Oct 03 - 05:35 PM Hi Joe, Verse 3: Where was our proud highland mettle, Our men was so famed in battle, Now stand cowed, huddled like cattle, And soon to be shipped o'er the ocean. Verse 4: No use pleading or praying, Now gone, gone all hope of staying, So hush, hush the anchors a-weighing, Don't cry in your sleep, bonnie baby. Shieling is the correct spelling; Words and music Jim McLean Published by Duart Music London 1963; Aka Smile in your Sleep. No problems about recording as long as credits are given. The MCPS and the PRS do the rest. The tune is interesting as I have mentioned somewhere else. The version in your blue clicky is my version, published way back, but Barry Taylor sequenced this and called it the Mist Covered Mountains or Chi Mi na Morbheanna which differs considerably in the second part. I based my tune on The MCM but it is NOT the same as MMario found out when I pointed him to the correct tune. A bit confusing? Basically, your blue clicky is my version of the MCM tune but not the same as the tradional MCM. Cheers, Jim |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Hush, hush time to be sleeping From: robinia Date: 30 Oct 03 - 07:51 AM Re the Highland evictions and English cruelty, I quote from Arthur Herman's enlightening new (2001) book, "How the Scots Invented the Modern World" : "So many misconceptions surround the terrible 'clearing,' or eviction of tens of thousands of Highland residents by their landlords, that it is worth taking time to get the story straight. The most outrageous misconception is the charge that somehow the English were really to blame. In fact, the principal instigators of these mass evictions were the Highland chieftans themselves, and their Scottish farm managers or 'factors.' In fact, some of the aristocrats who were most sentimentally attached to the traditions of Highland culture, such as the Chisholms of Strathglass and Alistair MacDonnell of Glengarry, were the most remorseless evictors. In their minds, they had little choice. Faced by an increasingly competitive agricultural market, and the need to liquidate enormous debts . . . chieftans looked for ways to make the land pay." (p. 256) Nor were these Clearances the result of the defeat at Culloden, says Herman. Almost fifty years elapsed before the first forced clearings of villages and farms in the Highlands, though the same thing had happened earlier in the Lowlands (not to mention in England?). As he says, "landlords were responding to economic rather than political pressures . . . the Highland chiefs abandoned the old ways because it profited them to belong to the modern world. Their followers did not, because they could not." I.e., in the south, "the land was more fertile, the opportunities for alternate employment more numerous, and the culture not as self-limiting"; so "clearings" there did not exact as terrible a human price. Herman shows the human suffering without finding any easy scapegoats for it. He debunks the sentimental myths even as he writes, in all seriousness, "the True Story of how Western Europe's Poorest Nation Created [with some assistance, to be sure!] our World & Everything in It." An inspiring story, full of historical ironies, that deserves to be better known. . . . |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Hush, hush time to be sleeping From: robinia Date: 30 Oct 03 - 07:58 AM PS -- thanks for posting both words and music to this lovely song, which I''ve long meant to learn. Now I have no excuse! robinia |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Hush, hush time to be sleeping From: Jim McLean Date: 30 Oct 03 - 10:18 AM Thanks for your kind words about my song, Robinia. In the 60s I wrote a few Highland Clearance songs for a 'themed' LP recorded by Alastair McDonald. There was no question of blaming England or even the defeat of Culloden for The Clearances. In one song I have the old lady Henny Munroe castigating Scotland for her woes. The whole affair was an economic one as mutton was cheaper than meat and was required during the French wars. After Culloden some of the captured Highland Chieftains who lived in London, sold 'their' land to English merchants to pay their debts, incurred in prison. Evictions began in the Sutherland estates in 1800, on land owned by an Englishman, George Granville Leveson-Gower, the Marques of Stafford, who married the Countess of Sutherland. He hired Scots, however, to do the brutal burning and evictions. It was ever thus. |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Hush, hush time to be sleeping From: Susan A-R Date: 30 Oct 03 - 10:07 PM Shores of Sutherland is a song which I've loved and sung. Thanks for penning such wonderful stuff. |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Hush, hush time to be sleeping From: Big Mick Date: 30 Oct 03 - 11:32 PM Jim, I sang your wonderful song during my miniconcert at the recent FSGW Getaway weekend. You should have heard the voices of the gathered folkies singing the chorus back at me.....very powerful, with wonderful harmonies. The kind of moment that singers live for. I have loved this song from the first time I heard it. Congratulations, once again, on a wonderful tellin'. All the best, Mick Lane |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Hush, hush time to be sleeping From: Jim McLean Date: 31 Oct 03 - 04:49 AM Thanks everyone. |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Hush, hush time to be sleeping From: GUEST Date: 22 Nov 04 - 08:57 AM The song is a translation of a Gaelic song, in the English it is called Hush Hush Inessier, (not sure of the English spelling for Inisheer. The music is an ancient piping tune, known to many, again in the English tongue as Mist Covered Mountains. Hush Hush Ineseer can be heard on ScotRadio, by the group North Sea Gas and is available from the same group at www.nsg.com or from Greentrax records at www.greentrax.com Hope that helps. Dave Scottish Nationalist Television TV SCOTS/ScotRadio Bringing Scotland to the world TV SCOTS http://www.electricscotland.com/tvscots/index.htm |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Hush, hush time to be sleeping From: MMario Date: 22 Nov 04 - 09:02 AM Jim - do you ever feel like you keep talking, and talking and no one is listening? |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Hush, hush time to be sleeping From: Jim McLean Date: 30 Dec 04 - 05:09 AM Hi Mario, I've just read this latest posting and couldn't agree with you more more! I haven't heard the Gaelic version by North Sea Gas but I can assure everyone that my words are original and most probably the Gaelic version is a translation from my English. I wrote it around 1963 and it was first published in book form in 1968. |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Hush, hush time to be sleeping From: Sabine Date: 30 Dec 04 - 08:23 AM Think the biggest problem is that other people don't read but just write.... regards Sabine |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Hush, hush time to be sleeping From: George Seto - af221@chebucto.ns.ca Date: 31 Dec 04 - 02:54 PM Either that, Jim, or someone is singing Chì Mi Na Mórbheanna, and this fellow thinks that because it's the same tune, it's your song in Gaelic. Oh well.... |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Hush, hush time to be sleeping From: Malcolm Douglas Date: 31 Dec 04 - 05:24 PM People like that always want there to be an "ancient Gaelic original," and it's no use telling them when they're talking rubbish. That kind of ignorance is invincible. I wrote a crushing little reply at the time, but didn't post it. Chi mi na Mòr-bheanna was written (as Dùil ri Baile Chaolais fhaicinn) by John Cameron of Ballachulish (c.1856). The tune wasn't originally Gaelic; nor is it "ancient." It's an adaptation of Johnny's so long at the Fair, which itself probably isn't older than the second half of the 18th century, and may not even be Scottish. |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Hush, hush time to be sleeping From: ranger1 Date: 25 May 05 - 08:05 PM I have the NSG CD with this song on it (Spirit of Scotland). It's sung in English with no mention of ever having been in Gaelic. It is, however, listed as Trad. They've tweaked the lyrics a bit, but there's no doubt it's the same song. I'm happy to know where it really came from, it's a beautiful, haunting song that I fell in love with the first time I heard it. |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Hush, hush time to be sleeping From: GUEST Date: 26 May 05 - 01:40 AM Is is possible to get the basic chords for this song? Much appreicated! -Lenie "Is it not strange that sheeps guts should hail sould from men's bodies?" -William Shakspeare 'Much ado about nothing.' |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Hush, hush time to be sleeping From: Jim McLean Date: 26 May 05 - 04:38 AM Once again can I point out that I wrote Hush, Hush etc AKA Smile in your Sleep. It is not Trad and is registered with the MCPS and PRS, Published by Duart Music. As Malcolm points out the tune is basically chi mi na morbheanna although the tune to that song is really only similar to that used for my chorus. My verse melody is entirely different, more akin to the pipe tune Mist covered Mountains of Home. |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Hush, hush time to be sleeping From: PoohBear Date: 26 May 05 - 10:24 AM Serendipity! I was listening to a recording of The Corries on my way to work this morning and heard this song. . . one of my favorites of this particular LP. Thanks for a beautiful - and thought provoking - set of lyrics, Jim. Cheers PB |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Hush, hush time to be sleeping From: Moleskin Joe Date: 26 May 05 - 10:53 AM Hi Can anyone confirm that the jig Mist Covered Mountain/Mist on the Mountain by Junior Crehan is the same tune? I am sure I heard somewhere that he made the jig, which is pretty well known, out of the tune. |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Hush, hush time to be sleeping From: GUEST Date: 16 May 07 - 11:38 AM r u still looking for the chords to the song hush hush (smile in your sleep bonnie baby?? if so i have them |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Hush, hush time to be sleeping From: Jack Campin Date: 16 May 07 - 02:46 PM The chords are in the GIF score that was linked to here. Junior Crehan's tune has no resemblance to the Scottish one that I can see. I find Jim's great song a bit of a liability in mixed vocal/instrumental sessions. I like playing the pipe tune version. It's got the same notes but the repeat structure is different. So when I try to start the tune, it gets hijacked by singers and I can't continue what I started - I'd prefer to move on to a faster piece after doing the tune in its straight AABB form once or twice, instead everybody goes AB AB AB AB. |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Hush, hush time to be sleeping From: Jim McLean Date: 17 May 07 - 06:42 AM Jack, I wrote the song to the pipe tune (basically) with the chorus being the first part. As a song it works as ABAB etc. but I know what you mean as an intrumental as I was a piper. The traditional Mist Covered Mountains song is slightly different in the first part and the second part is entirely different although some people continue to link Chi Mi.. to Mist Covered Mountains (the pipe tune). |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Hush, hush time to be sleeping From: GUEST,NS Date: 22 May 07 - 06:26 PM Hey ew to this but just happened by this site. Just wanted to say that i have heard it with the lines in verse 3 as follows: Where was our proud highland mettle, That once stood sae fearless in battle, Stand cowed, thered like cattle, And wait to be shipped o'er the ocean. It has a bit more of a Scottish twang to it too! Just thought you'd like to know! |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Hush, hush time to be sleeping From: Jack Campin Date: 22 May 07 - 06:47 PM "Thered"? As in hered and everywhered? |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Hush, hush time to be sleeping From: GUEST,George Date: 23 May 07 - 12:03 PM Guest,NS hasn't been reading this thread as Jim McLean already posted this verse, albeit correctly. |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Hush, hush time to be sleeping From: GUEST Date: 23 May 07 - 12:25 PM GUEST,NS, Jim McLean is the author of this marvelous story/song. You should read the whole thread. You will not be sorry that you did. All the best, Mick |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Hush, hush time to be sleeping From: GUEST,me Date: 05 Dec 08 - 12:47 PM Ross Noble claims some writers are coruscating in their condemnation of the Clearances, seeing the process as an early version of "ethnic cleansing". However, Noble believes this approach over-simplifies the issues involved. Under the economic and social ideas of the several centuries involved, landowners and employers were generally callous about the "lower orders", (exemplified by the 1843 fictional character of Ebenezer Scrooge) and these modern terms such as "genocide" and "ethnic cleansing" reflect new sensitivities and social perspectives, which in this case would not apply, as most of the landlords were fellow Scotsmen. |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Hush, hush time to be sleeping From: GUEST,Alba Nuadh Date: 18 Sep 09 - 01:00 PM So Jim,where are all the verses? We sing it locally are there are some you are missing. |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Hush, hush time to be sleeping From: Jim McLean Date: 18 Sep 09 - 07:32 PM This is from Joe Offer's posting of October 2003 (with a slight correction). SMILE IN YOUR SLEEP (Hush, Hush) (Jim McLean) CHORUS Hush, hush, time to be sleeping, Hush, hush, dreams come a creeping, Dreams of peace and of freedom, So smile in your sleep Bonnie Baby. 1. Once our valleys were ringing, With sounds of our children singing, But now sheep bleat till the evening, And shielings lie empty and broken. 2. We stood with heads bowed in prayer, While factors laid our cottages bare, The flames licked the clear mountain air, And many were dead by the morning. 3. Where was our proud Highland mettle, Our men once so famed in battle, Now stand cowed, huddled like cattle, And soon to be shipped o'er the ocean. 4. No use pleading or praying, Now gone, gone, all hope of staying, So hush, hush the anchors a-weighing, Don't cry in your sleep, bonnie baby. Words and music Jim McLean Published by Duart Music London 1963 |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Hush, hush time to be sleeping From: Jim McLean Date: 18 Sep 09 - 07:34 PM PS Alba Nuadh, those are all the verses I wrote. Cheers, Jim |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Hush, hush time to be sleeping From: GUEST,Alyce Date: 27 Oct 09 - 05:10 PM I remember my grade three teacher, and now close friend, Sine McKenna taught us this song as part of our first music lesson. It has always stayed with me- its such a powerful song. |
