> Folk Music > Songs > The Washing Song

Arrane Ny Niee / The Washing Song

[ Roud - ; trad.]

Eliza Carthy sang the Washing Song on the Imagined Village's 2012 album, Bending the Dark.

Laura Hockenhull sang The Washing Song on the 2013 anthology of music at work in Britain, Rhythms of Labour. Marek Korcvynski et al noted:

Coming from the Isle of Man, this song was sung in Manx Gaelic with the title Arrane Ny Niee. According to James Kelly of Ballachrink, from whom it was collected by Mona Douglas in the early 20^th century, the song was sung by women during the course of washing their babies. There are three clear dimensions of emotion expressed in the song. The tender care with which women handle their young offspring is suggested in details about washing first their hands, and then their feet, and in expressions overflowing with the delight of maternal love—‘O my heart, my joy’. This is accompanied with admiring description of those they tend, their bodies fair and smooth, their hair a-curling, all of which is summed up in the line: ‘Each day puts beauty on you’. Along with these aspects of the song is the recurrent sense of time moving on, as each day passes from dawn to twilight, and of their babies continually growing and changing: ‘Each day puts strength upon you’. The song is a celebration of the abundance of maternal love coupled with expressions of hope for each ‘darling sweet’ to whom it is sung—hope that they continue to grow over time in both beauty and strength.

These three emotional dimensions in this song of a mother’s daily work and care for her child are sensitively brought out in this new recording by Laura Hockenhull, sung in the translated version of the song available in Peter Kennedy’s major collection of traditional song from Britain and Ireland [pp. 184-5]. We had the honour of introducing this song to Eliza Carthy, when she played a concert linked to our singing at work research in 2010. She takes the lead on The Imagined Village’s version of the song on their 2012 album, Bending the Dark.

Lyrics

Arrane Ny Niee	Laura Hockenhull sings The Washing Song
Bee dty host, my villish Bee dty host, my villish Niee mish dty laueyn Niee mish dty cassyn Aalin t’ou, my lhiannoo Bane as rea dty challin Sheidey dty coamrey meein Dagh laa cur aalid ort Vyrneen lhiam ny folt cassagagh Ree ny rollagyn, cur bannaght ort O my chree, my stoyr	Hush-a-bye, my darling Hush-a-bye, my darling Hands now I ’ll wash them Feet now I ’ll wash them Handsome you, my young one Fair and smooth your body Clothes made of silk so fine Each day puts beauty on you Darling sweet, with hair a-curling King of stars, blessings on you O my heart, my joy.
Chooid nagh gaase ’sy voghrey Lhig eh gaase ’syn keeiraght Niee mish dty laueyn Niee mish dty cassyn Chooid nagh gaase ec munlaa Lhig eh gaase ’syn oie Cur ort dy chooilley grayse Dagh laa cur niartys ort Vyrneen lhiam ny folt cassagagh Ree ny rollagyn, cur bannaght ort O my chree, my stoyr	At morn that which grows not By the twilight’s growing Hands now I ’ll wash them Feet now I ’ll wash them At noon that which grows not By the night-time’s growing And puts on every grace Each day puts strength upon you Darling sweet, with hair a-curling King of stars, blessings on you O my heart, my joy.

Acknowledgements

Lyrics copied from Peter Kenendy: Folk Songs of Britain and Ireland, pp. 184-5.