Lyr Req: cumla??

Subject: Lyr Req: cumla??
From: GUEST,vince
Date: 17 Oct 02 - 04:11 PM

hi, i'm trying to get the words to an irish? song called Cumla (probly spelt wrong). I think the chorus is something like...'Cumla dear don't come any near to me, cumla dear don't come any nearer tom me etc'. I think the Dubliners have done it at some time. I have the tune but no words. If they are tooo rude for this forum..i'll understand!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: cumla??
From: GUEST,Bill Kennedy
Date: 17 Oct 02 - 04:20 PM

it's in the DT as Cunnla, I've seen it as Cunla more often
@displaysong.cfm?SongID=1414

Subject: Lyr Add: CUNNLA (from Joe Heaney)
From: GUEST,Bill Kennedy
Date: 17 Oct 02 - 04:21 PM

from the DT

CUNNLA
from the singing of Joe Heaney

O who is that out there knocking the ditches down
O who is that out there knocking the ditches down
O who is that out there knocking the ditches down
Nobody, only Cunnla

Cunnla dear, don't come any nearer me
Cunnla dear, don't come any nearer me
Cunnla dear, don't come any nearer me
Maybe I shouldn't, says Cunnla

Who is that down there tapping the windowpane
Nobody, only Cunnla

Who is that down there raking the fire for me
Nobody, only Cunnla

Who is that down there tickling the toes off me
Nobody, only Cunnla

Who is that down there pulling the blanket off
Nobody, only Cunnla

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: cumla??
From: GUEST
Date: 17 Oct 02 - 04:34 PM

Cunla is also a great tune with more parts than are used for the song. I seem to remember Liam O Flynn plays a good version of it. here is a link to it at JC's.

The Dubliners did sing it on their "25 yrs/Celebration" Album, I think with Stockton's Wing - can't find the record at the moment to check.

Jon

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: cumla??
From: GUEST,Matthew Edwards
Date: 17 Oct 02 - 05:18 PM

Cúnnla is one of those rare beasts; a macaronic song i.e. in more than one language, in this case Irish and English. There is a superb version of it by Seosamh Ó hÉanaí and Séamus Ennis on the RTE CD Amhráin ar an Sean-Nós.
The Topic/Musical Traditions CD of Joe Heaney (Seosamh Ó hÉanaí) The Road From Connemara TSCD518D gives the bilingual text which I'll try to copy and post later.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: cúnnla
From: GUEST,Philippa
Date: 17 Oct 02 - 05:22 PM

It's usually sung in one language or another, I think, rather than bilingually ... though it isn't all that rare in the Irish tradition to sing verses in both languages in the one rendition of a song.

Good work, Bill, except I think it would have been better to have made a link to this earlier Cúnnla thread and you, anon and Matthew could have continued the discussion from there.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: cumla??
From: RolyH
Date: 17 Oct 02 - 05:28 PM

Good version on "Old Hag You Have Killed Me" by the Bothy Band

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: cumla??
From: RolyH
Date: 17 Oct 02 - 05:30 PM

WRONG!!!

It was on "The Well Below the Valley" by Planxty

Subject: Lyr Add: CÚNNLA (from Joe Heaney)
From: GUEST,Matthew Edwards
Date: 17 Oct 02 - 06:33 PM

Philippa, thanks for that link to the other thread, where Áine has already posted the Irish language lyrics.
I had thought that it was usually sung in both languages - as Ennis and Heaney do on the Amhráin ar an Sean-Nós CD, and as Heaney does on the Topic/Musical Traditions CD.
Anyway here is the text of the song as transcribed by Fred McCormick, Éamonn Ó Bróithe, and Dan Quinn from the tapes of Joe Heaney made by Ewan MacColl and Paggy Seeger:-

CÚNNLA

(from the singing of Joe Heaney)

"Agus cé hé sin thíos atá ag leagan na gclaíocha?
Cé hé sin thíos atá ag leagan na gclaíocha?
Cé hé sin thíos atá ag leagan na gclaíocha?"
"Mise mé fhéin", adeir Cúnnla.

Curfa
"Chúnnla a chroí, ná tara níos gaire dhom.
Chúnnla a chroí, ná tara níos gaire dhom.
Chúnnla a chroí, ná tara níos gaire dhom."
"(Níor) chóir dom sin", adeir Cúnnla.

"And who is that there that's knocking the ditches down?
Who is that there that's knocking the ditches down?
Who is that there that's knocking the ditches down?"
"Only me," says Cúnnla.

Chorus
"And Cúnnla dear, don't come any nearer me,
Cúnnla dear, don't come any nearer me,
Cúnnla dear, don't come any nearer me."
"Oh maybe I shouldn't", says Cúnnla.

" 'S cé hé sin thíos ag bualadh na fuinneoige?
Cé hé sin thíos ag bualadh na fuinneoige?
Cé hé sin thíos ag bualadh na fuinneoige?"
"Mise mé fhéin," adeir Cúnnla.

"Chúnnla a chroí, ná tara níos gaire dhom..."

"And who is that there that's breaking the window pane?
Who is that there that's breaking the window pane?
Who is that there that's breaking the window pane?"
"Only me", says Cúnnla.

"And Cúnnla dear, don't come any nearer me..."


" 'S cé hé sin thíos atá ag fadú na tine dhom?
Cé hé sin thíos atá ag fadú na tine dhom?
Cé hé sin thíos atá ag fadú na tine dhom?"
"Mise mé fhéin" adeir Cúnnla.

"Chúnnla a chroí, ná tara níos gaire dhom..."

"And who is that there that is raking the fire for me?
Who is that there that is raking the fire for me?
Who is that there that is raking the fire for me?"
"Only me", says Cúnnla.

"And Cúnnla dear, don't come any nearer me..."

"Agus cé hé sin thíos atá ag tarraingt na pluide dhíom?
Cé hé sin thíos atá ag tarraingt na pluide dhíom?
Cé hé sin thíos atá ag tarraingt na pluide dhíom?"
"Mise mé fhéin" adeir Cúnnla.

"Chúnnla a chroí, ná tara níos gaire dhom..."

"And who is that there that is pulling the blankets off?
Who is that there that is pulling the blankets off?
Who is that there that is pulling the blankets off?"
"Only me", says Cúnnla.

"And Cúnnla dear, don't come any nearer me..."

" 'S cé hé sin thíos atá ag tochas mo bhonnacha?
Cé hé sin thíos atá ag tochas mo bhonnacha?
Cé hé sin thíos atá ag tochas mo bhonnacha?"
"Mise mé fhéin" adeir Cúnnla.

"Chúnnla a chroí, ná tara níos gaire dhom..."

"And who is that there that is tickling the toes off me?
Who is that there that is tickling the toes off me?
Who is that there that is tickling the toes off me?"
"Only me", says Cúnnla.

"And Cúnnla dear, don't come any nearer me..."


Comments on the song by Joe Heaney:
"I'll sing it till I can go on no further, because I was never, I never found out what happened after he tickled her toes. It's about a man who used to come courting a girl and she wanted him and she didn't want him. By the way, go away, but come hither, that was more or less what she was saying. First of all, he came to the wall outside her house and climbing the wall he knocked the wall and then he came to the window and knocked at the window, then he started raking the fire, the next thing he pulled the blanket off her and the next thing he tickled her toes. What happened afterwards, I don't know, but the song ends there."

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: cumla??
From: GUEST
Date: 18 Oct 02 - 01:11 AM

Sorry Phillipa. - anon does agree with your point.

That said, thanks RolyH. I have that Planxty recording and was able to "remind myself". On that Album, the translation to English is credited to Seamus Ennis.

Jon

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: cumla??
From: GUEST,allen woopecker
Date: 18 Oct 02 - 05:07 AM

I believe the name of the tune (when played as a tune) is a five part jig called "The Frieze Britches".
a.w.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: cumla??
From: GUEST
Date: 18 Oct 02 - 11:54 AM

Thanks Allen, you are right.

Jon

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: cumla??
From: David Ingerson
Date: 18 Oct 02 - 12:15 PM

The macaronic question is interesting. I got my version from Liam Callen (who was killed two years ago by a reckless driver--may the sod lie light...) who got it from Joe Heaney when they both lived in Seattle. It is in the macaronic form, as are the two recordings I have of Joe singing it (from the Joe Heaney archives at UW). However, I'm thinking this is the result of singing for an American audience. It could well be--in fact it makes better sense--that it was originally sung in just one language. But the titilation factor makes a translation desirable and just plain fun.

BTW, the chorus in Liam's version ends with "It's only meself, says Cunnla" which scans better than some of the others.

David

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Cúnnla
From: GUEST,Philippa
Date: 21 Oct 02 - 08:44 AM

Dave:
Is dócha go gcuirfeá suim i "macarónachas" a thread about bi-lingual songs, started by the late Annraoi Ó Preith.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: cumla??
From: sharyn
Date: 21 Oct 02 - 12:14 PM

A few comments on posted translations:

It's not "breaking the windowpane" (wrong verb) -- it's "tapping" or "rapping" or "striking" or "hitting"

And the blanket verse: I heard Joe Heaney sing "Who is that down there a draggin' the blankets off?"