Ellan Vannin (poem)

Ellan Vannin (the Manx-language name of the Isle of Man) is a poem and song, often referred to as "the alternative Manx national anthem", the words of which were written by Eliza Craven Green in 1854 and later set to music by someone called either J. Townsend or F. H. Townend (sources vary).

The Manx-language name Ellan Vannin is commonly mispronounced in renditions of the song, including in the Bee Gees version, since written Manx uses an orthography based on Welsh rather than Irish/Scots gaelic, which does not accurately transcribe the "ʲə" sound found in the word for "island" in spoken Manx Gaelic. The correct pronunciation is.

English-language version

 * When the summer day is over
 * And its busy cares have flown,
 * I sit beneath the starlight
 * With a weary heart, alone,
 * Then rises like a vision,
 * Sparkling bright in nature's glee,
 * My own dear Ellan Vannin
 * With its green hills by the sea.


 * Then I hear the wavelets murmur
 * As they kiss the fairy shore,
 * Then beneath the em'rald waters
 * Sings the mermaid as of yore,
 * And the fair Isle shines with beauty
 * As in youth it dawned on me,
 * My own dear Ellan Vannin
 * With its green hills by the sea.


 * Then mem'ries sweet and tender
 * Come like music's plaintive flow,
 * Of the hearts in Ellan Vannin
 * That lov'd me long ago,
 * And I give with tears and blessings,
 * My own fondest thoughts to thee,
 * My own dear Ellan Vannin
 * With its green hills by the sea.

Manx Gaelic (Gaelg) version
Source:


 * Tra ta'n laa souree ec jerrey
 * As imneaghyn lhie ersooyl
 * mish my hoie fo ny rollageyn,
 * slane my lomarcan as skee
 * Eisht ta girree gollrish ashlish,
 * Loandyr gial as dooghyssagh
 * she oo hene o Ellan Vannin,
 * Lesh croink glassey rish y cheayn.


 * Ta mee clashtyn tharmane tonnyn
 * Myr t'ad nish paagey yn traie ;
 * As heese dowin fo'n ushtey geayney
 * Kiaulleeagh foast ta'n ven-varrey ;
 * As ta'n Ellan soilshean aalin
 * Myr ve ayns my aegid hene ;
 * My heer deyr, shenn Ellan Vannin
 * Lesh croink glassey rish y cheayn.


 * Nish ta smooinaght millish meiyghagh
 * Cheet myr kiaulleeaght gys my chree ;
 * Jeh ny cree'ghyn va ayns Mannin
 * Foddey roie hug graih da mee ;
 * Ta mee coyrt lesh jeir as bannaght
 * Nish my smooinaght share dhyt hene ;
 * My heer deyr, shenn Ellan Vannin,
 * Lesh croink glassey rish y cheayn.

The Bee Gees version
The Bee Gees recorded a version for Isle of Man charities. They also included the song in their world-tour as a show of pride in the place of their birth. It was recorded in 1997, and released and re-released as a single, 1998–1999.