Lyr Add: O Bhean A' Ti

Subject: Lyr Add: Ó Bhean a' Tí
From: keberoxu
Date: 25 Apr 16 - 12:59 PM

Please, fellow Mudcatters, help me out with this one. I have one recording by Fionnuala MacLochlainn, another exists by Máire Brennan which I don't have, and I don't see these lyrics anyplace on existing Mudcat threads. I know nothing about when this traditional song might have been first written and sung.

What I submit in this post: was entered online at pages referring to Clannad and Máire Brennan;
and I have observed some variation in the Fionnuala MacLochlainn recording, which is from the 1960's, and thus predates Clannad.

Ó BHEAN A' TÍ

(traditional; Gaelic)

verse 1
Éirigí suas a thogha na bhfear
Is cuirigí píce ar bharr gach cleith.
Leagaigí síos iad lucht an droch-chroí
Agus cuirigí dlí na Frainc' ar bun.
Agus ó bhean a' tí, cén bhuairt sin ort?

Chorus

verse 2
HELP!! Fionnualla Mac Lochlainn sings something COMPLETELY DIFFERENT from Clannad's verse 2! I think "France" is in there someplace.

Chorus

verse 3
????????? mise síos 's mo mhian le m'ais,
????????? dí mar dhéanfadh fear;
Sé dúirt bean a' tí den chomhrá mhín,
Gan airgead síos bí gabháil amach,
Agus ó bhean a' tí, cén bhuairt sin ort?

chorus:
Ó bhean a' tí fá dhó nó trí
Beidh talamh gan chíos ón bhliain seo amach,
Agus ó bhean a' tí, nach suairc é sin?

Subject: Lyr Add: Ó Bhean A' Tí
From: keberoxu
Date: 25 Apr 16 - 01:47 PM

Well, had I dug a little bit deeper to start with, I would have found this sooner....
EBay has the Gael-Linn 45RPM vinyl made by Fionnuala MacLochlainn in the 1960's. One vendor very kindly put up a photograph of the sleeve, and on the back are the lyrics.

Per the previous post:
Verse 1 is as given.
The chorus is as given.

Let's see if I can correctly data-enter Verses 2 and 3, as copied from the Gael-Linn sleeve.

Ó BHEAN A' TÍ, verses 2 and 3 (trad., Gaelic)

Verse 2
Síntear chugam cárt ón gclár seo amach
Go n-óla mé sláinte an áir seo ag teacht
Beidh an Francach go láidir i gcuantaí Cheann tSáile
Is mar a mheasaim is fearr é ná comhraáití ban
Agus ó bhean a' tí, cén bhuairt sin ort?

Verse 3
Do shuíos-sa síos 's mo mhian le mo ais,
Ag diúgadh mo dhí mar a dhéanfadh fear;
Is é dúirt bean a' tí den chomhrá nach mhín:
"Gan airgead síos bí ag gabháil amach!"
Agus ó bhean a' tí, cén bhuairt sin ort?

(Whew! Gaelic is not one of my languages....)

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: O Bhean A' Ti
From: michaelr
Date: 25 Apr 16 - 03:23 PM

Maire Brennan's version is on the Donal Lunny-produced collection "Common Ground" (EMI, 1996). The booklet has a translation but not the original Irish. Would you like me to post the English translation?

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: O Bhean A' Ti
From: keberoxu
Date: 25 Apr 16 - 07:25 PM

No objection whatever!

I would only note that the Máire Brennan version will have a different Verse 2 from the Fionnuala MacLochlainn version, so whatever your English is for Verse 2 will have no connection to the Verse 2 in Gaelic which is in my posts.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: O Bhean A' Ti
From: michaelr
Date: 25 Apr 16 - 08:04 PM

O Bhean A' Ti

Rise up ye stalwart men
And put the pitch alight on your torch sticks
Vanquish those who would do us evil
And establish the rule of France
Oh woman of the house, what ails you?

CHORUS:
Woman of the house, we say it again
From this year out the land will be rent free
And what ails you?

Here's a jug on the table and beer is coming
And the Duke of York has sufficient arms
The French and the Spaniards at the shore's edge
And how better that is than woman's chatter
And oh woman of the house, what ails you?

CHORUS

Alas and alack when I was young
Two years old with no evil thought in my mind
That I didn't join the King's navy or army
Instead of spending my life looking after you
And oh woman of the house, what ails you?

CHORUS

May my back be broken under this weight
If I ever come again to bring you sorrow
And so many women from here to the Blackwater river
That would go along the road with me and have a drink
And oh woman of the house, what ails you?

CHORUS

Repeat 1st verse and chorus


From the liner notes to the CD Common Ground (EMI, 1996)

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: O Bhean A' Ti
From: michaelr
Date: 25 Apr 16 - 08:14 PM

I can find no background on this song, but the references to France and Spain might date it to the 1798 uprising ("the year of the French" which was actually 1796). The Duke of York may be Frederick Augustus (1763-1827), the second son of George III.
Any of our Irish scholars have any information?

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: O Bhean A' Ti
From: keberoxu
Date: 26 Apr 16 - 07:39 PM

I'm scraping around Translate Google to make sense of what is on the Gael Linn sleeve, to see how it compares with the "Common Ground" translation.


Verse 2 from Gael Linn/Fionnuala Mac Lochlainn mentions the French in Kinsale (Ceann tSaile) harbor. No Duke of York, though.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: O Bhean A' Ti
From: michaelr
Date: 26 Apr 16 - 08:16 PM

Good luck with Google Translate. There was a very funny thread here some time ago where folks had automated programs translate song lyrics into some foreign languages, then back into English. Much hilarity ensued.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: O Bhean A' Ti
From: keberoxu
Date: 27 Apr 16 - 07:17 PM

There is something going on in that second verse (Fionnuala Mac Lochlainn) that isn't in any of the Clannad verses....

Yes, I know what you mean about Google Translate. It can be wrestled with, if you have straight journalist reporting from a newspaper article. For lyrics and poetry, though, it's a darned train wreck.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: O Bhean A' Ti
From: keberoxu
Date: 30 Apr 16 - 01:09 PM

Moderators, I apologize, and I ask your help. Gaelic is not one of my languages. When I started this thread, I did indeed search to see if I could add to an earlier thread. The reason I found no earlier thread for this song in my search, was because the spelling was different.

The earlier thread is a Lyrics Added thread for the same song.
The spelling is "O Bean" instead of "O Bhean."
The earlier thread number is threadid=44268
This thread number is threadid=159789

Could you please join the two threads together? Many thanks. keberoxu

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: O Bhean A' Ti
From: keberoxu
Date: 02 May 16 - 07:19 PM

Moderators?? Pretty please with sugar on it?

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: O Bhean A' Ti
From: michaelr
Date: 03 May 16 - 12:13 AM

The moderators probably don't read every thread. Perhaps a PM to Jeri or Joe Offer is in order.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: O Bhean A' Ti
From: MAG
Date: 03 May 16 - 05:37 PM

and while we are on the subject, can anyone give me (phonetically) the correct pronunciation of

"Maire?

Maara (Maur)?

muh -- ee -- rah?
mire?

tia

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: O Bhean A' Ti
From: michaelr
Date: 03 May 16 - 07:13 PM

Moya. In fact, she's been spelling it that way for some time, taking a cue from her sister Enya, whose name is spelled Eithne.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: O Bhean A' Ti
From: MAG
Date: 03 May 16 - 09:08 PM

thank you Michaelr; one mystery solved for me.
I've always liked her stuff a shade better than her sister's; more my range, a lot more traditional.
still w/ all the reverb, tho'