Loch na Garr (Lachin Y Gair)
DESCRIPTION: The singer is in England, a land of "a million luxuries," but longs for Caledonia. He remembers his childhood, his plaid and "traditional story ... on cheiftains long perished." As "one who has rambled o'er countries afar" he prefers "dark Lough Na Garr"
AUTHOR: George Gordon, Lord Byron (1788-1824) (source: broadside, NLScotland L.C.178.A.2(318))
EARLIEST DATE: 1807 (Byron, _Hours of Idleness_, according to Connie Beck's Lord Byron site)
KEYWORDS: homesickness emigration England Scotland
FOUND IN: Ireland Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Tunney-WhereSongsDoThunder, p. 180, "Dark Lough Na Garr" (1 text)
Greig/Duncan3 508, "Lochnagar" (1 fragment)
Roud #2436
BROADSIDES:
NLScotland, L.C.178.A.2(318), "Loch na Garr," Harkness (Preston), c.1870
Bodleian, 2806 c.14(55)[some words illegible], "Loch Na Garr" ("Away, ye gay landscapes! ye gardens of roses"), J. Harkness (Preston), 1840-1866; also Harding B 11(2241), 2806 c.14(54), "Loch-na-Garr"; Harding B 26(118), "Dark Loch Na Gar"; Harding B 40(2) View 3 of 4,"Dark-Lock-na-Garr"; Harding B 19(88), "Dark Lock-na-Garr"
NOTES [45 words]: Most of the broadsides and Tunney-WhereSongsDoThunder are incomplete. For a complete version see NLScotland L.C.178.A.2(318). The commentary for that broadside notes that "Lochnagar [is] the mountain that gives this poem its title...." [about 40 miles west of Aberdeen]. - BS
Last updated in version 2.4
File: TST180
Go to the Ballad Search form
Go to the Ballad Index Song List
Go to the Ballad Index Instructions
Go to the Ballad Index Bibliography or Discography
The Ballad Index Copyright 2024 by Robert B. Waltz and David G. Engle.