When a new gramophone recording company, Clan Records and Publications Ltd., of Edinburgh, began last year to record the histories, clan songs and pipe tunes of the clans, quite naturally the Clan Donald was the first to go on wax.
Donald F. MacDonald, a North Carolinian who now lives in Scotland, was responsible for the script. His wife, the former Marietta MacLeod, sings abridged versions of “Skye Boat Song” (recorded for the first time in Gaelic), “In Praise of Islay,” “Lament for Glencoe” and a Gaelic-English version of Alasdair MacMhaighstir Alasdair’s immortal “0 Hi, Ri Ri, Tha E Tighinn” – “Oh Hee, Ree, Ree, He is Coming.” A brief history of the clan is narrated by Scottish Television commentator, Alex Allan.
Omitted from the script because of times restrictions is the following “Prayer of the MacDonalds” which was presented to Donald F. MacDonald and his Lewis-born wife as a wedding gift by Mr Harry P. MacDonald and family of New London, Connecticut, USA:
Bless a’ the MacDonalds an’ a’ the MacDonalds childer:
Their sons an’ their dochters’ dochters for a thousan’ year to come.
Be gracious, an’ send doon mountains o’ snuff an’ rivers o’ whusky – th’ verra best whusky.
An’, O Lord, send doon swords an’ pistols an’ daggers, as monie as the sands o’ the seashore, to kill a’ the Campbells an’ Dalrymples.*
Bless the wee coo, O Lord, an’ mak’ it a big coo.
Bless the wee sucklin’ an’ makit a grand boar.
An’ O Lord, bless th’ wee bairns – yon Angus, an’ Rosie, an, Maggie’ an’ Florie.
An’, O Lord, build up a great wa’ between us an’ th’ English:
An’ put broken bottles on top so they canna come over.
An’, O Lord, if Ye hae anything gude tae gie, dinna gie it to the Campbells;
but gie it to your chosen people, the MacDonalds, especially th’ Clan Donald, an’ a’ their friends …
Glorious Ye’ll be, forevermore. Amen.
* Obviously refers to the Glencoe Massacre. The Master of Stair was surnamed Dalrymple.