Transcript

Thánaíos don bhaile seo aréir
Agus thugas (dá béilín póg),
Mise ar intinn ar mhargadh do dhéanamh
'S ná scarfainn léi féin go deo.
Níor tháinig a daidí chun réitigh -
Cár measa dom féin ná dhó?
Is mo chumha leat, beannacht, táim réidh leat
('S) ní chasfaidh mé féin go deo.

Beidh mise ag imeacht amáireach
'Gus (beannaigh le) cách mo shiúl.
Nín[1] ór buí agam le háireamh
'S ar uisce ní shnámhann mo long,
Mar is réic bocht (mé) a chuirfeadh chun suain thú
Is do bhainfinn den cháirt an cumhar
Is 'na dhiaidh súd cá bhfios nárbh fhearr mé
Ná fear eile agus barr na Mumhan.

Translation

I came to this place last night
And I gave her little mouth a kiss (?),
With a mind to making a bargain
And that I wouldn't ever part from her.
Her daddy would not agree -
Was it worse for myself than for him?
And my sorrow goes with you, farewell, I'm finished with you
And I will never return.

I will be leaving tomorrow,
And wish everyone my parting farewell (?).
I have no yellow gold to count,
And my ship floats not on water,
For I am a poor rake who would bring you to bed
And I would take the foam off the quart
But yet who knows if I wouldn't be better
Than any other man, even the best of Munster.

Footnotes

Commentary

These verses are from 'Cití na gCumann', a popular song in Waterford and elsewhere in south Munster. It tells of the frosty reception the poet receives from the family of his beloved when he seeks permission to marry their daughter. In some versions, the family has already heard rumours of his philandering ways with other young women. In others, they fail to reach agreement on a dowry. The poet then tries to persuade the girl to elope with him and even leave Ireland.

Father Pádraig Breathnach published a version in Ár gceól féinig (Dublin, 1920), 150-1. Alan Lomax and Séamus Ennis recorded Máire Ní Shúilleabháin, Ballylicky, county Cork, singing a version of this song in 1951, which they described as 'one of the finest Irish songs in the narrative ballad style'. See liner notes to Alan Lomax (comp. and ed.), World library of folk and primitive music: Vol. II: Ireland (Rounder Records, 1998). Labhrás Ó Cadhla, who can be heard elsewhere in the Doegen collection, sings 'Cití na gCumann' on Amhráin ó Shliabh gCua: sean-nós singing from county Waterford (RTÉ, 2000). Ó Cadhla's version is transcribed in Dáithí Ó hÓgáin (ed.), Binneas thar meon: a collection of songs and airs made by Liam de Noraidh in east Munster (Dublin, 1994), 124-5. For other published versions and further discussion see: Nioclás Tóibín, Duanaire Déiseach (Dublin, 1978), 100-1; An Roinn Oideachais, Cuisle an cheoil (Dublin, 1976), 110-11; Nóirín Ní Riain, Stór amhrán (Cork and Dublin, 1988), 24-5; and Brian O'Rourke, Blas meala (Blackrock, Co. Dublin, 1985), 85-92. Other songs set to the same melody include 'An Sean-Aonarán' (see Pádraig Ó Miléadha, Duanta andeas (Dublin, 1934), 39-40) and 'Ag Taisteal na Slí Dhom' (see Dáithí Ó hÓgáin, op. cit., 137-9).