Transcript

Tháinig mé isteach go tigh an ósta
Agus d'fhiafraigh an óigbhean dhaom,
"Cáid ó rinne tú an pósadh -
Nach n-airíonn tú an óige dhá cloí?"
"Is gearr ó rinne mé an pósadh
Agus airím é go mór ag goil thríom,
Agus an té nach ndearnaidh go fóill é
Is aige atá spóirt an tsaoil."

Caiptín mise a bhí in Éirinn
Agus chaith mé téarma ar loing,
Bhainfinn scil as na spéirthí
Agus (chabhairfeadh)[1] na réaltaí liom.
Níl aon bhean óg ar an tsaol seo
A shínfeadh a taobh geal liom
Nach (ngabhfa)... ghabhfainn anonn go Júméice dhaoithe
Go (gcoinnínn luach tae) agus rum.

An gcluin sibh[2] mise, a mhná óga?
Déanaigí an pósadh in am;
Ní fhásfaidh na dilliúir faoi dhó
Nó go dtitfidh siad anuas dhon gcrann.
Is cosúil sibh le lá fómhair
Ná le long a bheadh ag seoladh cam,
Is mur bhfaigheadh sí go tapaidh píolóití
Bheadh bratach anuas faoin gcrann.

Agus gabhfad go hIorras thar tír
San áit a mblitear go fial na ba,
Tá báid is eangachaí ag iascaireacht ann[3]
Is muintir an taobh ó dheas.
Beidh againn (teach) fada agus fásach
(Coiníní) buí agus glas,
Is achuile shórt eile dhá n-iarrfaidh muid,
Cead rince (ar) gach taobh dhon teach.

Ní bhainfidh mé an fhéasóg seo dhaomsa
Go bhfásfaidh sí míle ar fad,
Déanfaidh mé cuilt dho mo bhríste
A mhairfeas le linn na bhfear.
Imeoidh mé amach faoin tír seo
Mar imíonns an chaora ghlas,
Mur bhfaighidh mé bean ar an gcaoi sin
Ach tréigfidh mé an saol ar fad!

Translation

I came into the public house
And the young woman asked me,
"How long have you been married?
Don't you feel your youth being subdued?"
"I got married recently,
And I feel it greatly piercing me,
And he who has not done so yet
It is he who has the best of fun."

I am a captain who was in Ireland
And I spent a term on a ship,
I would read the skies with skill,
And the stars would help me (?).
There is not a young woman in this world
Who would lay down beside me
For whom I would not go to Jamaica
To (...) tea and rum.

And do you hear me, young women,
Get married in time!
The leaves will not grow twice
Before they fall down from the tree.
You are like an autumnal day
Or a ship sailing off course,
If she did not quickly get a pilot
The sail would come down about the mast (?).

And I will go over land to Erris
Where the cows are plentifully milked,
Where there are boats with nets fishing,
And the people of the southern side.
We will have a long (...) and pasture,
Brown and grey rabbits,
And everything else we would ask for,
Permission to dance all around the house.

I will not shave this beard of mine
Until it grows a mile in length,
I will make a quilt of my trousers
Which will last forever.
I will go out into this country
As the black sheep goes,
If I don't find a woman that way
I'll abandon this life altogether!

Footnotes

Commentary

Micheál Ó Tiománaidhe published a version of this song entitled 'Is gairid ó rinne mé an pósadh' in Abhráin Ghaedhilge an Iarthair (Dublin, 1906). See new edition by William Mahon: Amhráin Ghaeilge an Iarthair: Micheál Ó Tiománaidhe a chruinnigh (Indreabhán, 1992), no. 32. Ó Tiománaidhe collected it from Pádraig Breathnach, Belmullet, county Mayo. The song is told from the point of view of a pleasant sea-captain who, according to Ó Tiománaidhe, shipped cargo from Spain to Erris, county Mayo. See Amhráin Ghaeilge an Iarthair, 55-6. As music notation is not given by Ó Tiománaidhe or Mahon, the recording of Frank McGinty singing the song elsewhere in the Doegen collection offers an opportunity to hear this song in full. Mícheál Ó hInnéirghe recites a portion of the song in the Doegen collection also.