Transcript

Tá dá[1] ghabhar is mionnán agam
Tá dá ghabhar is mionnán agam
Tá dá ghabhar is mionnán agam
Is pocán ceannann buí.

Tairse abhaile, a bháibín ó,
Tairse abhaile, a bháibín ó,
Tairse abhaile, a bháibín ó,
A bháibín ó mo chroí.

Translation

I have two goats and a kid
I have two goats and a kid
I have two goats and a kid
And a white-faced yellow he-goat.

Come home, little baby oh,
Come home, little baby oh,
Come home, little baby oh,
Little baby oh my darling.

Footnotes

Commentary

Fionán Mac Coluim, under the pseudonym 'Fínghín na Leamhna', published three verses of this song without a chorus, as 'Tá Dhá Ghabhar 's Mionnán Agam' in Duanaireacht do leanbhaíbh (Dublin, 1914), 33-4. He also published it as 'Tair-se 'Bhaile a Bháibín Ó' in Cosa buidhe árda do’n aos óg cuid a haon (Dublin, 1916), 5. It appears again as 'Tar a Bhaile, A Bháibín Ó' in Fionán Mac Coluim and Pádraig Pléimionn, Cosa buidhe árda: cuid a haon (enlarged edition, Dublin, 1922), 10-11, where seven verses are given along with the melody in tonic solfa notation. Mac Coluim sings the first verse and chorus on the present recording. The song was arranged for piano and voice by Carl Hardebeck for inclusion in a collection of nursery rhymes entitled Amhráiníní do’n aos óg gléasta i gcóir piano (Cork, 1930), 8. Hardebeck acknowledges Mac Coluim as the source for all eleven songs in the book. Hardebeck's version is set to the melody of 'An Chóisir'. The melody is often played as a slide entitled 'An Chóisir' by instrumentalists in west Kerry. A rendition of it can be heard, for example, on Séamus Begley and Steve Cooney, Meitheal (Hummingbird Productions, 1996).