LEANABH AN AIGH
Created on 07/02/2007Latest update on 15/02/2024
Artist: Mary MacDonald
Author: trad./Mary MacDonald
Year: 1840s
Scottish Gaelic for Child Of Wonder. Mary was a poet from Bunessan on the Ross of Mull (Hybrid Islands). Name in Gaelic: Mairi Dhughallach (1789-1872). She never spoke English. The melody Mary used is sometimes referred to as Bunessan, so if she didn't compose it, it's from her native ground. Mary is commemorated in Bunessan with a stone marker, thanks to the later popularity of this song (as Morning Has Broken).
Covers:
- 1888:
Lachlan MacBean [wrote the English translation as Child In A Manger in his songbook Songs And Hymns Of The Gael; became a famous Christmas carol since]
- 1931:
Eleanor Farjeon [using the same melody for her poem Thanks For A Day, opening with: Morning has broken like the first morning, Blackbird has spoken like the first bird; hymn #30 in her Expanded Edition of Songs Of Praise; Farjeon wrote fairy tales and poetry for children and didn't live long enough to witness Cat Stevens' hit]
- 1950:
Kinkintillach Junior Choir [as Child In The Manger]
- 1971:
Cat Stevens [as Morning Has Broken hit US, UK & NL; Rick Wakeman on keyboards]
- 1972:
Mary Hopkin [idem]
- 1975:
Nana Mouskouri [as Schön ist der Morgen]
- 1990:
Clare College Choir & Orchestra, Cambridge [as Child In A Manger]
- 1992:
Neil Diamond [as Morning Has Broken]
- 1996:
- 1997:
Art Garfunkel [as Morning Has Broken]
- 2000:
Daniel O'Donnell [idem]
- 2004:
Rowwen Hèze [as Licht Op De Lakes]
