CRYING NOT FOR YOU (2007)

for mezzo-soprano, violin/fiddle, and organ drone
Duration: ca. 5-10 minutes (varies depending on how many verses the performers choose to do).

A traditional Scottish-Gaelic Song, Chan e caoidh Mhic Shiridh (based on the version sung by Flora MacNeil), arr. and text adapted to English by R. McClellan.

Commissioned and premiered by Sylvia Aiko Rider, with Caroline Shaw, violin and Trevor Gureckis, organ: April 14, 2007 at Dwight Chapel, New Haven, CT.

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TEXT (the performers may omit verses):

Crying not for you, my lover
Not for you, these tears, o

[refrain:]
Hoo o, ro hoo, o
Ho ro, o hee o, hee, o
Hoo o, ro hoo, o

I cry, I cry, for you, my brother
drowned at sea, were you, o

ref.

Lost, lost, your clustering hair
Vanished in the waves, o

ref.

Lost, lost your teeth so white
Broken on the rocks, o

ref.

Long, long, I search the sea,
Long, I scan these waves, o

ref.

Seeking your white linen sail,
Coming home to me, o