Fact · Eriskay
The Eriskay Love Lilt was collected on the island in 1905
The Eriskay Love Lilt, sung around the world, was collected on Eriskay by Marjory Kennedy-Fraser with the help of the island priest and poet Father Allan MacDonald, and published in Songs of the Hebrides in 1909. The original Gaelic lament is Gràdh Geal Mo Chridhe.
Marjory Kennedy-Fraser came to Eriskay in 1905 to collect songs, guided by the island's priest, Father Allan MacDonald, himself a Gaelic poet. Among the songs she took down was the lament for unrequited love Gràdh Geal Mo Chridhe, bright love of my heart. She arranged it as an art song with an English verse and a Gaelic chorus, and published it in the first volume of Songs of the Hebrides in 1909 as the Eriskay Love Lilt. It has been recorded by everyone from Paul Robeson to Judith Durham.
Sources / notes: Wikipedia: Eriskay Love Lilt https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eriskay_Love_Lilt