Transcript

Má thig tú choíche, ó, tar san oíche i gcúl an chlaí,
Ar maidin nó tráthnóna nuair a bíos an driúcht ina luí,
Ó, cé nach labhraimsa bím ag meabhrú go mór fá mo chroí,
Is tú mo chéadsearc agus ní féidir domh do chumhaidh a chur daom.

Fear gan chéill a bheadh ag dréim leis an chlaidhe atá ard,
Is ar an chlaidhe bheag íseal a leag mé mo lámh,
Cé gur ard an crann caorthainn bídh[1] sé searbh as a bharr,
Fásfaidh sméara agus bláth sú craobh ar an chrann is ísle bláth.

Dá mbínn ' mo bhádóir ba deas a shnámhfainn an fharraige anonn,
Nó scríobhfainnse chugad líne le barr mo phinn,
Monuar ghéar gan tú agus mé a chráigh mo chroí
I ngleanntán sléibhe le héirí gréine agus an driúcht ina luí.

Translation

If you ever come, come at night by the back of the wall,
In the morning or evening when the dew has fallen,
Oh, though I don't speak I think greatly of my love,
You are my dearest one and I cannot stop pining for you.

He is a foolish man who would endeavour to climb the high wall,
It's on the little low wall that I placed my hand,
Although the mountain ash is a tall tree its fruit is bitter,
Blackberries and raspberry blossoms will grow on the lowest blossoming tree.

If I were a boatman how nicely I would cross the sea,
Or I would write a line to you with the top of my pen,
Alas that you, who tormented my heart, and I are not
In a mountain glen at sunrise with the dew on the ground.

Footnotes

Commentary

Parts 1 and 2 of this recording comprise a version of 'An Draighneán Donn', which is a very well-known song throughout Ireland. It is most commonly associated with the west of Ireland although Douglas Hyde wrote that 'there is no spot in the country where it is not to be still found, and it is as common in English as it is in Irish, but we do not always find in it the same verses'. See Abhráin grádh Chúige Connacht; or Love songs of Connacht (Dublin, 1893), 33. There are many different versions of this song both in Irish and in English. It occurs variously with both male and female perspectives. Charlotte Brooke included a version of it in Reliques of Irish poetry (Dublin, 1789) and Edward Bunting published a melody entitled 'Droignan Dón' or 'The Brown Thorn' in The general collection of ancient Irish music (Dublin, 1796), 2. Early editions of Connacht versions of the song appear in James Hardiman, Irish minstrelsy (2 vols, London, 1831), vol. 1, 234-7, and Douglas Hyde, Abhráin grádha Chúige Connacht, 30-3. A Munster version of the song was published in John O'Daly, The poets and poetry of Munster (Dublin, 1849), 287-91, alongside a translation by James Clarence Mangan. A ten-verse version of the song is included in Dónal O'Sullivan, Songs of the Irish (Dublin, 1960), 49-51. For further bibliographical and discographical references, see Pádraigín Ní Uallacháin, A hidden Ulster: people, songs and traditions of Oriel (Dublin, 2003), 192, 515-16. The first verse (i.e. part 1) of this song is on a separate track in the Doegen collection.