Little by Little Beag air Bheag
'S toigh leam fhìn Buntàta 's Ìm
This is a lively wee tune about enjoying the simple things in life. This is a popular type of Gaelic song called Puirt à Beul, meaning ‘a tune from the mouth’ or ‘mouth music’. This type of song is often light-hearted, occasionally bawdy, in nature. This version is sung by Josie Duncan.
Watch the video to the learn the song line-by-line. This video was originally filmed for LearnGaelic’s popular social media strand ‘Learn a Gaelic song’ and the format is slightly different.
This is a simple song with an a-part and a b-part, but the a-part and b-parts have the same lyrics, so you will learn this in no time!
We’ll start with learning the lines of the song and what they mean.
’S toigh leam fhìn buntàta ’s ìm
I myself like potatoes and butter
The second line goes:
’S toigh leam fhìn na caileagan
I myself like the lassies
The words of the third line are the same as the first:
’S toigh leam fhìn buntàta ’s ìm
I myself like potatoes and butter
The final line of the a-part is:
And the lassies of this town
The melody of the first line of the a-part is:
’S toigh leam fhìn buntàta ’s ìm
I myself like potatoes and butter
The melody of the second line goes:
’S toigh leam fhìn na caileagan
I myself like the lassies
The melody of the third line goes:
’S toigh leam fhìn buntàta ’s ìm
I myself like potatoes and butter
The melody of the final line of the a-part is:
And the lassies of this town
Are you feeling confident? Let’s put all the lines together and start to work on the complete a-part:
’S toigh leam fhìn buntàta ’s ìm,
’S toigh leam fhìn na caileagan,
’S toigh leam fhìn buntàta ’s ìm,
Is nighneagan a’ bhaile seo.
I myself like potatoes and butter,
I myself like the lassies,
I myself like potatoes and butter,
And the lassies of this town.
Repeat the a-part twice!
How are you getting on? Let’s learn the b-part:
’S toigh leam fhìn buntàta ’s ìm
I myself like potatoes and butter
The melody of the second line goes:
’S toigh leam fhìn na caileagan
I myself like the lassies
The melody of the third line goes:
’S toigh leam fhìn buntàta ’s ìm
I myself like potatoes and butter
The melody of the final line of the b-part is:
And the lassies of this town
Let’s put all the lines together and start to work on the complete b-part:
’S toigh leam fhìn buntàta ’s ìm,
’S toigh leam fhìn na caileagan,
’S toigh leam fhìn buntàta ’s ìm,
Is nighneagan a’ bhaile seo.
I myself like potatoes and butter,
I myself like the lassies,
I myself like potatoes and butter,
And the lassies of this town.
Repeat the b-part twice! That's you! You know the whole song!