Hook or Rionn Ohee

Trad, arranged by Bok

      Learned from my aunt Beanto (Boericke) Cohen. She learned it from Alice Lang of Edinborough (who, she said, was born in_ Valparaiso, which accounts for some of the softness of her way of speaking and singing). Beanto also said that, dreamy as the song is, when you have to row or drive a canoe into a headwind it helps a lot to sing this. She and her sister Ethelwyn used it in the woods years ago to keep in touch with each other, each singing alternate lines. When she first (or second) sang it to me, I could hear the two bells off the ledges singing, too. She sang it alone, but I asked the twelve-string to help me with the bells.

* Beyond the mountains on Skye.

Hook or rionn ohee,
· All the ships that sail from Lochlann
I would steer if I but may.

Hook or rionn ohee,
All the wonders 'yont the croft- dykes
I would see if I but may.

Hook or rionn ohee,
All the wonders 'yont the cuillins*
I would reach if I but may.

All the ships that sail the wintry sea.

Hook or Rionn Ohee is recorded on the CD Jeremy Brown and Jeannie Teal