Transcript

Is fada dhom ar buaireamh ar tuairisc mo ghrá
I gcoillthibh dubha in uaigneas 'om ruagairt chun fáin
A tuairisc ní bhfuaireas cé gur chuardaíos a lán
Ó gheataíbh na tuaithe[1] go bruach gheal na trá.

Nach aoibhinn dos sna héiníní d'éiríonn go hard
Do luíonn lena chéile ar aon ghéigín amháin
Ní mar sin dom féin is dom chéad míle grá
Gur fada óna chéile orainn d'éiríonn an lá.

Tá mo chulaith phósta 'na stróicíocha liom síos
Níl pingin im póca ná feoirling, fóraíor
Do tháinig (próiseas) nó dhó chugham (lenar ólas-sa don mí)
Is é mo lá leoin ná fuilim óg seal arís.

Translation

I'm a long time troubled searching for word of my beloved
In black woods in loneliness driving myself astray
I have heard nothing of her although I searched a great deal
From the gates of the countryside to the bright edge of the shore.

How lovely for the little birds that rise up on high
That lie down together on one little branch
Unlike me and my hundred thousand times beloved
Who are far from each other when the day breaks.

My wedding suit is hanging off me in strips
I haven't a penny in my pocket nor a farthing, alas
I received a summons(?) or two for all I drank during the month (?)
And it's my great affliction that I'm not young again a while.

Footnotes

Commentary

This love song was published under the title 'Réidh-Chnoc Mná Sighe' in John O'Daly, The poets and poetry of Munster (Dublin, 1850), 216-19. It appears alongside a translation by James Clarence Mangan entitled 'The Dark Fairy Rath', and O'Daly attributed the song to George Roberts. Cormac Ó Cadhlaigh published the song as 'Réidh-Chnoc Mná Duibhe' in Irisleabhar na Gaedhilge 14 (March 1904). A.M. Freeman collected three different versions of the song which were published in Journal of the Folk-Song Society 23:6 (1920), 154-8. He collected two versions from Mr. Conny Cochlan, Derrynasaggart, county Cork, and another version from Miss Peg O'Donoghue, Ballymakeery, county Cork. Freeman printed three alternative melodies for the song and lists a total of eleven different verses. The three verses sung in the present recording appear in Freeman's amalgamated version as verses 1, 9, and 6. Father Pádraig Breathnach included another version of the song in Fuínn na smól (Dublin, 1913), 24-5. The song is set to a different melody in Máighréad Ní Annagáin and Séamus de Chlanndiolúin, Londubh an Chairn (Oxford, 1927), 19-20. It is also included in Dáithí Ó hÓgáin, Binneas thar meon 1: a collection of songs and airs made by Liam de Noraidh in east Munster (Dublin, 1994), 213-14. For a discussion of the customs and beliefs relating to fairies which occur in this song, see Londubh an chairn, 11, and Ríonach uí Ógáin's note on p. 12 of the booklet accompanying Beauty an Oileáin: music and song of the Blasket Islands (Claddagh Records, 1992).