Iain MacNeacail - known throughout his home island of Skye as 'an Sgiobair' (the Skipper) has been making songs since 1917 when he as fourteen years old. Born in 1903, Iain's's life spans the century and he still sings and recites and composes today.

Hebridean Song-Maker explores the world of a Gaelic song-maker, largely though Iain's own words and thoughts. The picture that emerges is of a lively interaction between a vibrant island community and their township bard. Iain says that poets are born, not made, and he did not think of his own talent as anything unusual. This is reflected in his astonishment that others are not as capable: "I asked the minister down there could he compose, and he couldn't do it. This assumption of ability and unquestioning acceptance of his skills has meant that he has not fully thought out how he composes; it simply happens.

This book is exceptional because it includes not only beautiful black and white pictures along with the stimulating text but the bard singing some of his own songs on a CD. As an introduction let us look at the function of song in a Hebridean community.

"Township poets like MacNeacail, whose witty, intelligent repartee was so popular at céilidhs, composed songs of love and emotion, songs about local history, elegiac songs and biting satires that, without naming names, left no one in doubt as to who was being lampooned. "They were feared of me making a song to them," says Iain. 'Maybe myself and a neighbour were cast out on [i.e. disagreeing or feuding about] something, and that was enough.'

While satires and humorous songs were certainly a release for potentially damaging tensions in a small island community, those songs and the exchange of aoir [a satirical song or rhyme] were tempered by the many other types of song, such as songs of exile, like A's a' mhadainn 's mi 'g éirigh about his years working away from Skye on the mainland; songs of love, like A Mhàiri, a Mhàiri, or songs about local events, like Lìon a-mach go bàrr na cuachan. Between them, MacNeacail and Aonghas Fleidsear, seven years his senior, made songs about the iron horse (in this case a bicycle), local and national political questions, affairs of the heart, amusing local occurrences, and even myxomatosis. Each of these was ‘a good subject to make a song on.. and that's how I did it'. Many of these songs were, of course, exercises in composition, making lain and Aonghas vernacular versions of the court bard.

The very structure of the songs themselves indicates their function as carriers of local news, a point highlighted by the frequent opening line, "An cuala sibh..." ["Did you hear..."] This is typical of township poetry; the listener is invited to become 'in the know', one of the entertained rather than the subject or victim of the song. Occasionally, Iain will close with a formulaic phrase like "Bidh mi niste co-dhùnadh..." ["I will be concluding now..."], indicating to the audience that the song, and the message contained in it, are coming to an end. These features, which may seem awkward in a reading context, are typical of oral township poetry.

While these songs are about issues and events, they are usually not narrative songs in the Anglo-American ballad sense. There is a story behind each song, as we have seen in Iain's desire to set the scene for each one, but they largely depend on the audience knowing the story and the characters already. Narrative is important, but it is taken for granted.

According to Somhairle MacGill-Eam, 'all poetry reflects social phenomena,' but to MacNeacail and the older generation of islanders, a song is as much a personal expression of emotion and the need to communicate. It is used, as 6 Madagain says, referring to both Irish and Scottish Gaelic song, 'on occasions when feelings were such that ordinary speech was inadequate'. He goes on to state that this function has 'largely been lost to characteristic Western society'. MacNeacail, however, retains it as part of his everyday life for which it provides 'a vehicle for the expression of ideas and emotions not revealed in ordinary discourse'.

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