Lyr Req: Slan Libh

Subject: Slan Libh
From: The Celtic Bard
Date: 13 Jun 01 - 02:00 PM

Doesn't anybody have the lyrics for this song? I have it on a a CD called "101 Beautiful Irish Ballads." It's a really beautiful rebel song about fighting for ones country, death, patriotism, and hope.

Plus if anyone could translate the Gaelic at the end of each verse, that would be cool. It begins with "slan libh" but considering that I doesn't speak Gaelic, I would butcher the rest of the words if I tried to post them here.

Thanks for everyone's efforts.

Rebecca <><

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Slan Leibh
From:
Date: 13 Jun 01 - 06:00 PM

I assume it's Slàn Leibh. That would mean, literally, "Health with you". It's usually meant as a toast, or a parting.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Slan Libh
From: The Celtic Bard
Date: 13 Jun 01 - 09:31 PM

Well, George, that's a start. Thanks.

Rebecca <><

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Slan Libh
From:
Date: 14 Jun 01 - 06:19 AM

Without seeing the words, it's hard to give you a translation. Who sings it?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Slan Libh
From: GUEST,Philippa
Date: 14 Jun 01 - 02:13 PM

George gives the Scottish Gaelic. In Irish it's spelled "slán libh" and is a common way of saying "good-by", "farewell" (slán leat to one person,slán libh to more than one) But just those words don't aren't enough for me to identify the song or say whether I've heard it.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Slan Libh
From: The Celtic Bard
Date: 17 Jun 01 - 05:53 PM

Ok, here's what I've been able to understand from the CD. However it's hard to catch a fair number of the words. I'm also making a wild stab at the Gaelic so please forgive me because I'm probably spelling it horribly wrong.

SLAN LIBH

Sisters and brothers, come resolve/Who drawed the old and broken field(?)/Who answering a nation's call/Dear Mother Erin, sworn to be free/To you who carry on the fight/My share of dearness(?) hope I give/Before I pass into the night/Slan libh a hardia, slan libh

Your work allows no time for rest/The longest life is brief in(?) span/You're called the bravest, noblest best/That e'er inspired the heart of man/Fight on, fear not for God is just/The third in tombs(?) shall cease to live/And pray for him whose bones are dust/Slan libh a hardia, slan libh

Slan libh a simple Irish braes/All part in bold(?) to meet again/Betwixt comrades, who through nights and days/For her dear sake, strove(?) pike and pain/For her dear sake, remember me/For her dear sake, my faults forgive/Godspeed the fight for liberty/Slan libh a hardia, slan libh

Hopefully that rings a bell for someone. That's the best that I can do.

Rebecca <><

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Slan Libh
From: Áine
Date: 17 Jun 01 - 06:11 PM

What they're saying is: 'Slán libh a chairde' which means 'Goodbye to you, my friends'.

-- Áine

Subject: DTAdd: SLEAN LIBH
From: Susanne (skw)
Date: 18 Jun 01 - 08:29 PM

Don't know why I overlooked this thread, for I have the words sung by Dominic Behan on his 'Easter Week and After' album.

SLEAN LIBH
(Sean Barlow / Peadar Kearney)

Sisters and brothers, comrades all, who trod the olden road with me
And answering a nation's call dear Mother Erin sworn to free
To you who'll carry on the fight my share of deathless hope I give
Before I pass into the night, Slean libh

Slean libh! a simple Irish phrase of parting but to meet again
'Twixt comrades who thro' night and days for her dear sake strove might and main
For her dear sake, remember me, for her dear sake, my faults forgive
God speed the fight for liberty, Slean libh

Your work allows no time for rest, one longest life is merest span
Your cause, the bravest, noblest, best that e'er inspired the heart of man
Fight on! fear not! for God is just (The tyrant he shall cease to live)
And pray for those whose bones are dust, Slean libh

It was recorded in 1958. For a reissue in 1965 Paddy Tunney added a critical note:
[1965:] 'Fare you well' or 'Safety to you' in the English. It descends almost to bathos and has none of the hot blood of revolution in it. It is an unhappy choice [for this album]. (Paddy Tunney, notes Dominic Behan, 'Easter Week and After')

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Slan Libh
From: The Celtic Bard
Date: 19 Jun 01 - 01:19 PM

Thank you Susanne! I appreciate it.

And thank you everone who contributed to this search.

Rebecca <><

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Slan Libh
From:
Date: 27 Jan 02 - 06:08 PM

There's a song by that name on an old LP "Songs of Irish Rebellion" by Dominic Behan. Unfortunately, I no longer have it in my possession.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Slan Libh
From: Big Tim
Date: 23 Jul 03 - 03:33 PM

Anyone agree with Paddy Tunney's comment, in Susanne's post above, that the song descends almost to bathos. I don't!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Slan Libh
From: Jim McLean
Date: 24 Jul 03 - 07:37 AM

I have just re-listened to the LP and can't agree that the song descends almost to bathos. However Dominic has a peculiar pronunciation, almost cockney in words like 'pray' 'sake' etc. which I don't understand as it was definitely not the way he spoke or normally sang.
Jim McLean

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Slan Libh
From: Big Tim
Date: 24 Jul 03 - 10:40 AM

The lyrics seem to have been written by a man who knew he was dying (Peadar Kearney died in 1942). He had fought in the Rising of 1916, he had written Ireland's National Anthem and still his country, as he saw it - not the unionists, was still not independent. So, for me, the lyrics are sad and literally pathetic: pathos, not bathos.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Slan Libh
From: Jim McLean
Date: 24 Jul 03 - 12:47 PM

And he was Dominic's uncle.
Jim

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Slan Libh
From: Big Tim
Date: 24 Jul 03 - 03:10 PM

I haven't heard DB's version, tho I do have another one, but my reaction to the song is based on the actual lyrics, rather than any one expression or interpretation of them.

Paddy Tunney (born 1921) has been described as "a dedicated hater of pop, cant and shamrockery, a lover of old ways and rare songs and raving poetry". He also spent 4 years in jail in Belfast for "political activities". I think he missed the real beauty in "Slan Libh" though.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Slan Libh
From: Big Tim
Date: 28 Nov 03 - 11:38 AM

A few further queries - 1. Any information on Sean Barlow. 2. In verse three - is it "fear not", or, "fear nought"? 3. Date of publication?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Slan Libh
From: Big Tim
Date: 29 Nov 03 - 11:10 AM

Refresh.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Slan Libh
From: GUEST,belfast (sans cookie)
Date: 01 Dec 03 - 09:04 PM

It has dawned on me that the version of the song that Celtic Bard was listening to was by myself. Basically the same as that given by Susanne, and as sung by Dominic Behan, with a slight modification. When Behan sang it the word "slan" was spread over nine or ten notes. I found this uncomfortable. The printed version I had was in C. Desmond Greaves' book "The Easter Rising in Song and Ballad" which instead of Behan's "sla-a-a-a-a-a-n" had "slan libh, slan libh, slan libh, slan libh". I didn't find this much easier so I changed it to "slan libh, a chairde, slan libh". If I had to translate this it would be as, "farewell, my friends, farewell". I am usually reluctant to make any conscious changes to other people's work but there was nobody around from whom to ask permission.

The book by Greaves (also the author of a biography of James Connolly) is a small but excellent piece of work, including along with the history and thirty-odd songs a brief essay on the nature of the songs. This is the publishing information for the addicts among you:

"First published in 1980 by Stanmore Press Ltd., under their associated imprint: Kahn and Averill for the Workers' Music Association, 236A Westbourne Park Road, London W11"

As regards Big Tim's questions, it is "fear not", though with my accent and diction it would be hard to tell the difference.

I'm afraid I know absolutely nothing about Sean Barlow but I would guess that this melody is the result of formal music education rather that immersion in the folk song tradition. Not, of course, that the two are mutually exclusive.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Slan Libh
From: Big Tim
Date: 02 Dec 03 - 08:35 AM

Thnks B. It's also your version that I have and it's brilliant!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Slan Libh
From: Felipa
Date: 12 Dec 21 - 10:38 PM

the line at the end of the verses is "slán libh, a chairde, slán libh"

I'm listening to Brian Moore singing these lyrics
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATGJyt-YNFE
It's the closing track on an album "Patriotic Names, Songs of Tribute to Irish Patriots!
Brian Moore is also the singer of Slán Libh on the 101 Beautiful Irish Ballads album. Does that mean that Mudcatter "Belfast" was Brian Moore? (!)

and here is the Behan "Make Yourself at Home" Topic recording I'm not sure if the lead singer is Dominic Behan or if this is an album of Behan songs? I wonder who else is playing and singing with the lead singer. The full "slán libh, a chairde, slán libh" line is sung.

the lines are set to a lovely air

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Slan Libh
From: Felipa
Date: 12 Dec 21 - 10:43 PM

Dominic Behan singing Slán Libh

Subject: RE: Slán Libh (Kearney and Barlow)
From: Felipa
Date: 12 Dec 21 - 11:15 PM

from "Centenary of Amhrán na bhFiann - The Soldier's Song" by Mícheal Mac Donncha, "An Phobhlacht" 26 July 2007
https://www.anphoblacht.com/contents/17192

"Peadar’s main collaborator in music was his friend and comrade Paddy Heeney, another Northside Dubliner, who put music to Peadar’s words after they started their musical partnership in 1903. Heeney picked out the tunes on his melodeon and then they were noted down.
Some time in 1907, Peadar decided to write a song with a rousing chorus and an unusual metre. The result was The Soldier’s Song. He gave the words to Heeney to put music to them. At first Heeney had trouble with the song and gave up his effort at one point. He persisted and the finished product was first sung by PJ Bourke at 10 Lower Dominick Street to an audience of two – Peadar Kearney and Seán Barlow.

"It is said that at first The Soldier’s Song did not prove popular but eventually so many people asked Peadar for the words that he approached Bulmer Hobson, editor of the IRB newspaper Irish Freedom, to publish them. Thus, the song first appeared in print in 1912.
The now largely forgotten composer of the music to the National Anthem, Paddy Heeney, had died aged only 29 and in poverty in Jervis Street Hospital in June 1911. He was buried in an unmarked grave in Drumcondra Cemetery, where a plaque on the wall now commemorates him. Peadar, then in London with the Abbey Company, took up a collection for his deceased friend’s mother. Among the contributors were two fellow IRB men based in London – Michael Collins and Sam Maguire.

Peadar dedicated his song Slán Libh to Paddy Heeney"

similar information in https://www.jstor.org/stable/30105497 "Peadar Kearney" by Séamus de Burca.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Slan Libh
From: GUEST,Jim McCullough
Date: 12 Dec 21 - 11:43 PM

Yes,Felipa. "Belfast" was Brian Moore- one of the most talented and throughly decent people I've ever had the privilege of knowing.
RIP Brian.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Slan Libh
From: Thompson
Date: 14 Dec 21 - 03:49 AM

I think maybe Dominic Behan tended to sing songs with the accent of the person he'd got them from; he has a distinct Tipp accent in singing Sean Treacy.