Sail Óg Rua - Mícheál Ó Dubhagáin


Recording: [Download audio file] [Download AIFF audio file (of processed ‘user’ version)] [Download AIFF audio file (of archive version)]

Transcript

In Oileán Éadaigh 'tá mo rún is mo chéadsearc,
An bhean ar léig mé léithe mo rún is mé óg,
Tá triúr ar aon chéill ag gol 'na déidh agam,
Agus níl bean a mbréagthaí, mo chreach, le fáil.

Tá mé tinn tréanlag is níl gar gá shéanadh,
Níl mé ar aon chor ach mar bheadh an ceo,
Stór mo chléibh thú, is tú d'fhág liom féin mé,
Chuaigh tú i gcré uaim in do chailín óg.

Níl a fhios ag daoiní a(ch) chomh buartha agus bhímse
An tráth do smaoiním ar mo mhíle grá,
Ba deas é a méin dheas agus clár a héadain,
Agus a súil mar an réalta a bhíos ann uair roimh lá.

Mo ghrá do bhéilín nár chan na bréaga,
Do bhráighe[1] ghléigeal mar an eala ar snámh,
Do dhá chígh ghléigeal le do leanbh a bhréagadh,
'Gus a stór, níorbh fhéidir liom do thabhairt ón mbás.

In aois a sé déag sea fuair mé féin í,
Ba cumhartha an féirín í ag fear le fáil,
Gur síntí síos léithe a bhínn dhá mb'fhada í an oíche
'Gus gur eidir a dhá cígh a bhíodh mo lámh.

Translation

My darling and true love is in Islandeady,
The woman in whom I confided when I was young,
I have three in one mind crying after her,
And, alas, no woman can be found to soothe them.

I am sore and very weak and it can't be denyed,
I am like nothing but the fog,
Oh love of my heart, you have left me alone,
You died and left me when you were but a girl.

People don't know how sorrowful I am
When I think of my love,
Her bearing was pleasant, as was her forehead,
And her eye like the star an hour before daybreak.

I love your mouth which spoke no lies,
Your neck so bright like the swan on the water,
Your two pure-white breasts to soothe your child,
And my dear, I can't bring you back from the dead.

At the age of sixteen was when I got her,
What a pretty gift she was for a man to get,
I used to lie down with her if the night was long
With my hand between her two breasts.

Footnotes

= brágha/bráid. Cf. Éamonn Mhac an Fhailigh, The Irish of Erris, county Mayo (Dublin, 1968; repr. 1980), § 326. (Back)

Commentary

This song is attributed to Seán Mac Aoidh, Islandeady, county Mayo. The poet laments the loss of Sail Óg Ní Mháille, his young wife and the mother of his children. In the oral tradition, there are conflicting accounts of how she died. Tomás Ó Concheanainn (Nua-dhuanaire III (BÁC, 1981), 72) makes reference to claims that Mac Aoidh had murdered his wife and that he composed the song in Castlebar Gaol as proof of his innocence. Ó Concheanainn also refers to a tradition that Sail Óg Ní Mháille's family intended to avenge her death by attacking Seán Mac Aoidh but when they heard him singing this song they went home. The accompanying notes to sean-nós singer Darach Ó Catháin's LP Darach Ó Catháin: traditional Irish unaccompanied singing (Gael-Linn, 1975; reissued on CD 2004) state that Sail Óg died while giving birth. According to yet another tradition, the newly-wed Sail Óg was taken by the fairy host when she met another man on the road who took her home and married her. One year later, the first husband recognised Sail Óg with the second husband in a public house and having gone before a jury committee, it was decided that she remain with the second husband. See Micheál Ó Tiománaidhe, Abhráin Ghaedhilge an Iarthair (Dublin, 1906; new edition by William Mahon: Amhráin Ghaeilge an Iarthair: Micheál Ó Tiománaidhe a chruinnigh (Indreabhán, 1992), 72). For more information see: Eibhlín Bean Mhic Choisdealbha, Amhráin Mhuighe Seóla (Dublin, 1923), 30-1; Ríonach Ní Fhlathartaigh, Clár amhrán Bhaile na hInse (Dublin, 1976), 147; Tomás Ó Concheanainn, Nua-Dhuanaire III (repr. Dublin, 1981), 5-6, 72; Brian O'Rourke, Pale rainbow: an dubh ina bhán (Blackrock, Co. Dublin, 1990), 96-105; and Séamas Ó Catháin and Caitlín Uí Sheighin, Le gradam is le spraoi (Indreabhán, 1996), 38-41.

Title in English: Young red-haired Sally
Digital version published by: Doegen Records Web Project, Royal Irish Academy

Description of the Recording:

Speaker: Mícheál Ó Dubhagáin from Co. Mayo
Person who made the recording: Karl Tempel
Organizer and administrator of the recording scheme: The Royal Irish Academy
In collaboration with: Lautabteilung, Preußische Staatsbibliothek (now Lautarchiv, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin)
Recorded on 10-09-1930 in University College, Galway. Recorded on 10-09-1930 in University College, Galway.
Archive recording (ID LA_1123d2, from a shellac disk stored at the Royal Irish Academy) is 01:28 minutes long. Archive recording (ID LA_1123d2, from a shellac disk stored at the Royal Irish Academy) is 01:28 minutes long.
Second archive recording (ID LA_1123dd2, from a shellac disc stored at the Royal Irish Academy) is 01:28 minutes long. Second archive recording (ID LA_1123dd2, from a shellac disc stored at the Royal Irish Academy) is 01:28 minutes long.
User recording (ID LA_1123d2, from a shellac disk stored at the Royal Irish Academy) is 01:25 minutes long. User recording (ID LA_1123d2, from a shellac disk stored at the Royal Irish Academy) is 01:25 minutes long.