Lyrics with English Translation - 'Whaar Tide Meets Tide'

As promised at my Celtic on Campus concert (https://youtu.be/4qyJqXsPvXM)... here's the Shetland lyrics, and the English translation! 

Hope you enjoyed the song. 

Barry 

 

 

Whaar Tide Meets Tide  

Barry Nisbet  

 

Skrime da Noup abön Charlie’s Holm,  

Whaar da affrug casts strings o foam;  

And da skarfs beat da Flugga on da helicks by da shore,  

Hear der mantin cry whaar tide meets tide.  

 

(Ch.) Whaar tide meets tide, da skorie glides,  

Da selkie hunts and da solan dives.  

Whaar wi a mortal peester du might hear a neesik rise,  

By da banks o Noss whaar tide meets tide.  

 

Harsk gyos speak o different days,  

When haagless swells beat alang da craigs  

An saat spray carries lik shask apo da gale,  

An aa-baest cruggs for life whaar tide meets tide.  

 

(Ch.) Whaar tide meets tide, da skorie glides  

Da selkie hunts and da solan dives,  

Whaar da bonxie laavs, wi plunder in her mind,  

By da banks o Noss whaar tide meets tide.  

 

(Br.) Da peewit fins a girsy böl;  

Da teetick hwenks fae daal tae croft tae helli-möld.  

Da tystie sees da tide go doon, da tide come up  

And a dratsi braks da tang wi a crooner ta maet her pups…  

 

(Ch.) Whaar tide meets tide, da skorie glides  

Da selkie hunts and da solan dives  

Apo dee grandfaider’s meid du casts oot dee line  

BY da banks o Noss whaar tide meets tide  

By da banks o Noss whaar tide meets tide  

By da banks o Noss whaar tide meets tide. 

 

 

Where Tide Meets Tide (translation into English)  

Barry Nisbet  

See the Noup above Charlie’s Holm,  

Where the backwash makes strands of foam;  

And the cormorants ‘beat da Flugga’ (an arm-spreading motion used by fishermen to keep warm)  on the flat rocks by the shore,  

Hear their stammering cry where tide meets tide.  

 

(Ch.) Where tide meets tide, the young gull glides,  

The seal hunts and the gannet dives.  

Where with a great exhalation you might hear a porpoise surface,  

By the cliffs of Noss where tide meets tide.  

 

Harsh clefts in the rock tell of different days,  

When boundless, remorseless swells break against the cliffs  

And salt spray carries like mist on the gale,  

And every creature huddles against the weather for its life where tide meets tide.  

 

(Ch.) Where tide meets tide, the young gull glides,  

The seal hunts and the gannet dives.  

Where the arctic skua hovers threateningly with plunder in her mind,  

By the cliffs of Noss where tide meets tide.  

 

(Br.) The lapwing finds a grassy nest;  

The meadow pipit makes flitty, birdlike movements from dale to croft to human burial ground.  

The guillemot sees the tide come down, the tide come up  

And an otter breaks through the seaweed with a gurnard to feed her pups…  

 

(Ch.) Where tide meets tide, the young gull glides,  

The seal hunts and the gannet dives.  

On your grandfather’s fishing spot you cast out your line  

By the cliffs of Noss where tide meets tide  

By the cliffs of Noss where tide meets tide  

By the cliffs of Noss where tide meets tide

 

Leave a comment