Transcript

Tá cailín deas óg ' mo dhéidh insa ród
Agus sé mo chreach mhaidne í mar chonaic mé í,
Thiocfadh sí 'un óil, 'un damhsa is 'un spóirt
Is thóigfeadh sí an brón daom ar uair an mheán oích'.

Is deise í go mór ná an lilí is ná an rós
Is tá deallradh dhon ór ag rith ina dlaoi,
'Á gcasfadh mo stór orm 's í a bheith gan pósadh
Ar chomhairle a bhfuil beo ní scarfainnse léi.

Ós tusa an fear ceoil a shiúileas go leor
Fagh dhomhsa seoid a bheas agam mar mhnaoi,
Ná santaigh go deo í, maoin eallaigh ná bhó,
Ach mhúinfinn an dóigh úd a meallfása í.

Bíodh sí (lách cóir) gan mairg gan brón
Agus stuama go leor ar chuile shórt ní,
Siod insa ród í gan iomarcaí bhróid inti,
Sin í mo stórach 'á mbeadh sí gan pínn.

Translation

There is a pretty young woman behind me on the road
And woe is me that I saw her,
She would come drinking, dancing and having fun
And she would lift my sorrow at the midnight hour.

She is prettier by far than the lily or the rose
And a golden sheen runs through her hair,
If I met my love and she were not married
Not on all the advice in the world would I part with her.

Because you are the musician that travels a lot
Find me a jewel that I would have for a wife,
Never covet her, property in cattle or cows,
But I would teach the way that you would charm her.

May she be pleasant and honest without woe or sorrow
And sensible enough in every way,
There she goes on the road without too much pride,
She is my love if she hadn't a penny.

Commentary

This is a version of 'An Fear Ceoil' ('The Music Man'). Longer versions of the song tell the story of a young man who falls in love with a young woman but becomes aware that she is more in love with another man. Some attribute the song to the poet Mícheál Mac Suibhne. See Micheál and Tomás Ó Máille, Amhráin chlainne Gaedheal (BÁC, 1905), 38-9, 175-6. Micheál Ó Tiománaidhe published it as 'An Cailín Deas Óg' in Abhráin Ghaedhilge an Iarthair (Dublin, 1906), no. 35. See new edition by William Mahon: Amhráin Ghaeilge an Iarthair (Indreabhán, 1992), 59. For other versions see, for example: An Claisceadal 3 (1930s?), 11; Ríonach Ní Fhlathartaigh, Clár amhrán Bhaile na hInse (Dublin, 1976), 15, 55; and Ríonach uí Ógáin, Faoi rothaí na gréine: amhráin as Conamara a bhailigh Máirtín Ó Cadhain (Dublin, 1999), 159-60.