PS 145 – May Johnny return safely

      Slàn gun till Eonachan

      Fàilte Mhic Gill’ Eathain

Primary sources

Y3 Failte mhic-Gilleoin Y3.270: 250
C2 Slann gu dig shonachan C2.61: 138
K2 Welcome Johnie back again / Slàn gu’n till Eonachann K2.1: 1
KK Slànn gu’n till Eonachann / Wellcome John Back again KK.1: 1
JK Slan gun till Eonachan JK.62: [174]
KS Slan gu’n till Eonachann / Wellcome Johnie Back again KS.3: 5
SC Ionachan SC.20
Angus MacKay, ‘Specimens of Canntareachd’ (c. 1854), no. 20

Notes on Gaelic Titles

Slàn gun till Eonachan Slann gu dig shonachan C2; Slàn gu’n till Eonachann / Welcome Johnie back again K2; Slànn gu’n till Eonachann / Wellcome John Back again KK; Slan gun till Eonachan JK; Slan gu’n till Eonachan JKA; Ionachan SC; Slan gu’n till Eonachann / Wellcome Johnie Back again KS. May Johnnie return safely. In PS Book 9, p. 259, the editors pointed out that ‘Au Revoir to Johnny’, better still ‘May Johnnie return safely’, would be more correct than Angus MacKay’s translation. A song beginning Slan gun tig Aonachan… was noted in Skye in 1861 and translated in part ‘Be it well with Aonachan… well may he arrive…’ (F. Tolmie, Untitled, known as Tolmie collection. A complete issue of Journal of the Folk-song Society, No. 16, i.e. vol iv, part 3, London [1911], p. 169).

Fàilte Mhic Gill’ Eathain  Failte mhic-Gilleoin Y3. MacLean’s Salute.

Roderick Cannon (2009), rev. Barnaby Brown 2015

Archive Recording

1961 Pipe Major John D Burgess

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