Rug Muire Mac do Dhia (Mary bore a Son to God) - explanatory note

This arrangement can be found in the book by Wm Bay, "Guitar Picking Tunes: Celtic Hymns & Sacred Songs."  

Since our grandson came along this fall, the narrative behind this tune has gone in a new direction for me.

Christmas hits differently when there's a baby in the family. Our little guy at the moment is on the other side of the world. So the story this tune tells right now lies more in its highs and lows. Ideas like far and near, the journey from heaven to earth and back again, the euphoria and exhaustion of new motherhood.

I'm extremely proud of my daughter-in-law and how she is with her baby. I wouldn't have maybe heard as much motherhood in the tune with my own children, but I feel much more at liberty to do this for her.

For Y, T and N.

Link to the tune on my Youtube: 

Rug Muire mac do Dhia

Lyrics in Gaelic and English are below:

Rug Muire Mac do Dhia,
Íosa Críost, Triath na Reann,
Maireann dá éis ina hóigh,
An bhean is dóigh do gach dall.

Buime is Máthair Mhic Dé Bhí,
Bean mar í ní fhaca súil,
Bean ler oscladh flaitheas Dé,
Do mholfas mé os gach dúil.

Ní cosúil í le mnáibh,
Muire Mhór an bláth nach críon,
Ní cosúil balsam le moirt,
Le lionn goirt ní cosúil fíon.

Mary bore a son to God,
Jesus Christ, Prince of the Stars,
She remains a virgin afterwards,
The woman who is hope for every blind man.

The Nurse and the Mother of the Son of the Living God,
A woman like her no eye has ever seen,
The woman by whom God’s heavens were opened,
Whom I will praise over every creature.

She is not like other women,
Great Mary, the flower that never withers,
Balsam is not like heavy clay,
Unlike bitter ale is wine.

New Patreon page - starts with Christmas uke play-along, 'Down in Yon Forest

I've been hesitant to build traffic to the home studio. Close family member came down with covid 10 days before Christmas. Second (positive) finally gone today, a full 15 days later. And this person was careful too, up to date on shots, etc. Not to get public health political, but it's not over.

So have decided to put fully supported play-alongs online for Patreon subscribers. I'll keep putting up little hints and tips on the socials. But I guess this is reasonable with respect to the amount of time that goes into them. Here's the link to my Patreon page. Here's the Yon Forest post.

My first Patreon post is a Christmas play-along for uke. I've done it on banjo uke. It's a slightly lesser known tune, ' Down in Yon Forest.' Canadians will perhaps recognize as a Bruce Cockburn Christmas offering.

It's adapted from Steve Kaufman's Smokey Mountain Christmas. Steve has 2 volumes of this, 1 for guitar, and 1 for mandolin/violin. I just adapted the notes and chords for ukulele.

The collection includes a breakout solo for the instrument on each song. My play-along includes finger-picked melody and chording files, as well as a combined clip. I also did a separate set for the solo part. Found a new app for combining audio files, BandLab. I'm kind of analog for doing it on phone. But it's working great for me on computer.

The main song is pretty easy, altho in Dm with the Bb in it. Here's a link to jpgs taken on phone cam for partial screenshot of sheet music. Album includes jpg of charts of chords used, as well as chord 'map,' which shows the order of the chords in song. Also a badly aligned video clip of the solo. 

The book is well worth it, with fresh arrangements for what can be over-played Christmas tunes. You can get the book or ebook on MelBay.com.

My goal is to post something fresh to the Patreon once a month. It's a toe in the water. See what you think!

And by all means shoot me a note if you have a play-along you'd like to see, or an explainer developed.