Lyr Req: Siul a Ruin

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Siul a Ruin
From: GUEST,Gerry
Date: 07 Aug 20 - 08:37 AM

Lengthy essay on this song at, of all places, chess.com: https://www.chess.com/blog/batgirl/johnny-has-gone-for-a-soldier
I don't know how long it will be there.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Siul a Ruin
From: GUEST
Date: 04 Mar 12 - 05:08 PM

I'm wondering about that red-dyed petticoat. Just as, you know, a fashion choice, it doesn't make sense to buy dye when you've sold everything else for your soldier-boy. ;)

I haven't done my research (sorry!) but I'd expect normally expect it to be a badge of prostitution - both as advertising and because many cities/cultures required all prostitutes to wear some kind of clear token, like red shoes or a yellow hat or whatever, both to mark their shame and to help the guys find the pros without accidentally waylaying honest women by mistake.

And prostitution would shame and horrify one's parents more than begging would.

Or am I wrong and it's just a way to fill out a rhyming line?

--Nonie

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Siul a Ruin
From: MartinRyan
Date: 04 Mar 12 - 04:30 PM

refresh

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Siul a Ruin
From: MartinRyan
Date: 02 Mar 12 - 11:19 AM

Here's the Gaeilge version in Clandillon:
------------------------------------------

A bhuachaillín aobhínn alainn óg
Ba leathan do chroí, ba dheas do phóg
Mo léangan mise leat féin go deo
Is go dté tú a mhúirnín slán

chorus:
Siúl,Siúl,Siúl a ghrá
Níl leigheas ar fáil ach leigheas an bháis
Ó d'fhag tú mise is bocht mo chás
Is go dté tú a mhúirnín slán


Is minic do bhréag sé mé ar a ghlúin
Ag cur a scéal dom féin in iúl
Ach chaill mé é agusé mo rún
Is go dté tú a mhúirnín slán

Do shníomh mé líon is díol mé é
Is dhíol mé dhó mo thúirnín féin
'S cheannaigh mé claidheamh do ghrá mo chléibh
Is go dté tú a mhúirnín slán

Ach, chuireadh ar Rí Shéamais ruaig
Is d'imigh na géanna leis ar luais
Is d'imigh mo bhuachaill leo, mo nuar
Ó go dté tú a mhúirnín slán

Do shuí mé síos ar thulaigh mhóir
Ag dearcadh ar a loing fé sheól
D'iompóinn muileann le gach deór
Is go dté tú a mhúirnín slán

-----------------------------------------------

I've roughly modernised the spelling on-the-fly.

Regards

Ref.:
"Londubh an Chairn"
being
Songs of the Irish Gaels
in staff and sol-da
With English Metrical Translations

Edited by
Maighread ni Annagain agus Seamus de Chlanndiolúin
(1927)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Siul a Ruin
From: Felipa
Date: 02 Mar 12 - 08:05 AM

Chubby Parker doesn't have verses related to Siúl a rúin
I can't make out the nonsense third line of his chorus, it's not what Art Thieme sings about finding a pretty bobolink. Maybe someone with better ears or better headphones could transcribe the chorus for Mudcat
enjoyable listening at http://www.archive.org/details/ChubbyParker-01-20

and can anyone find us the tune to this Missouri version of Siúl a rúin/ shule aroon with nonsense chorus?:
@displaysong.cfm?SongID=5315?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Siul a Ruin
From: MartinRyan
Date: 01 Mar 12 - 04:38 AM

A quick glance at the five verse GAELIC set in Clandillon (Hyde's set as described in the note) suggests that Philippa's version from Risteard MacGabhann (1998) is a subset of Hyde, with minor changes. I'll transcribe it all .... eventually (tá sé sa sean-chló!).

Regards

p.s. Of course, now we need to find out where Clandillon's ENGLISH words came from! The note appears to refer to the tune?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Siul a Ruin
From: MartinRyan
Date: 01 Mar 12 - 04:04 AM

OK. Here is the text in Clandillon/Hannagan's book, including the note:

----------------------------------------------
SIUBHAL A GHRADH.
(SHULE A GRÁ.)
I
Oh bouchal mine, my heart you charm,
Your love was kind, your kiss was warm,
I'd wish to shield thee from all harm
Iss go day thoo avourneen slawn !*

Shule, Shule Shule a ghra,
Only death can heal my woe,
Since the boy of my heart from me did go,
Iss go day thoo avourneen dawn.


II.
' Twas often he'd court me on his knee,
And tales of love he'd tell to me,
But now my love is o'er the sea,
Iss go day thoo avourneen dawn.

Shule, Shule, etc.

III.
I'd sell my rock, I'd sell my reel,
I'd sell my only spinning wheel,
To buy my love a sword of steel
Iss go day thoo avourneenn dawn.

Shule, Shule, etc.

IV.
King James was routed in the fray
The " wild-geese" went with him away,
My boy went too, that dreary day
Iss go day thoo avourneen dawn.

Shine, Shule, etc.

* Iss go day, etc. : May you go, my love, in safety
! Shule a ghra: Come, beloved.

NOTE:
This Waterford version of Siubhal a Ghradh has never been published. It was usually sung in English to "I wish I were on yonder Hill". I have sung it repeatedly using Dr. Hyde's Gaelic words, to which it is here set. This version is major. Two minor variants have been published. Both in the lah mode. My mother used to sing this air to the English Words.

M ni A (Mairead ní Annagain)

------------------------------------------
Looking back at the thread, the GAELIC version in Clandillon appears to be the "Hyde version" referred to earlier. I'll follow that up also ...... eventually!

Regards

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Siul a Ruin
From: MartinRyan
Date: 01 Mar 12 - 03:22 AM

Philippa

Apologies for the delay! The book is now precariously perched on my desk, open at the correct page - I'll transcribe or scan it later today. I promise! ;>)>

Regards

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Siul a Ruin
From: GUEST,Philippa
Date: 29 Feb 12 - 06:53 PM

reminder to Martin Ryan re Clandillon query

also question for Art Thieme: is the Chubby Parker version recognisably related to Siúl a Rúin or is it only your adaptation with verses from Buttermilk Hill (or Butternut Hill)that is similar to the Irish song?
I haven't heard the Parker song yet. The versions I know of Siúl A Ghrá, Siúl a Rúin and Buttermilk Hill/Johnny has gone for a Soldier all have fairly similar albeit not identical airs.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Siul a Ruin
From: MartinRyan
Date: 01 Dec 11 - 06:19 AM

Hi Philippa

I'll dig out Clandillon's book (Hmmmm.... Wonder if it's online at this stage?) and transcribe his verses.

Not sure where I picked up the info about Hyde's involvement - I'll try to check back.

Regards

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Siul a Ruin
From: GUEST,Philippa
Date: 01 Dec 11 - 06:05 AM

did you get any more info re Hyde, Martin? And I'd like to see the additional two verses from Clandillon (or from Hyde)

People are saying there is no proof that the song was sung in Ireland before the 19th century and that it may refer to the Napoleonic wars rather than the Wild Geese. Well, in Irish the song does refer to "d'imigh na géanna", the geese are gone. Admittedly a song may refer to something that happened well before the song was composed (whether we are talking about Wild Geese from Ireland or Buttermilk Hill and the American Revolution). From what I read on this discussion thread, the 19th century broadsides show that by then the song was widely disseminated in English language version in the British Isles. So it may have been sung in Irish for some time previously.

Buttermilk Hill was indeed the site of a battle in the American War of Independence according to this article about Early Pocantico History

My owm theory is that the song was brought to America by immigrants both before AND after the Irish famine, and disseminated from more than one immigrant source.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Suil a Ruin
From: MartinRyan
Date: 30 May 11 - 03:46 PM

In fact, it appears that what happened in Ireland is that the poet A P Graves published a collated version of the existing macaronic song, towards the end of the 19th C. The collector, poet and folklorist Douglas Hyde then produced a (loose) metrical translation into Irish - which became independently popular.

Regards

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Suil a Ruin
From: MartinRyan
Date: 30 May 11 - 06:54 AM

Philippa's version consists of three verses from the five given in Clandillon's Songs of the Irish Gaels, rendered in modern irish spelling and script and with some small changes of angle i.e. use of second person where the other uses third etc.

The notes in the text are slightly confusing but imply that these are "Dr. Douglas Hyde's Gaelic words" i.e. that Hyde collected this set. I'll check later.

Regards

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Suil a Ruin
From: GUEST
Date: 25 Oct 09 - 01:32 PM

Click here for an interesting article on one version of this song.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Suil a Ruin
From: maple_leaf_boy
Date: 14 Jul 09 - 08:33 PM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMROre57y18&feature=related

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Suil a Ruin
From: maple_leaf_boy
Date: 14 Jul 09 - 08:33 PM

I was hoping to add this, but I see it's here. I found a nice version
of this song. The singer has a soft voice, and is playing the harp.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Suil a Ruin
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 08 Aug 08 - 01:28 PM

I've had a quick flick through this thread and nobody yet appears to have noted that at least 3 of the regular stanzas appeared on various Scottish broadsides of the 18thc century.
Rock and reel
Dye petticoats
Sad I sit on yonders hill
and should perhaps be considered as commonplaces/floaters. I f I remember rightly the last one is a commonplace even in Child ballads.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Suil a Ruin
From: Suffet
Date: 07 Aug 08 - 10:13 PM

Greetings:

I just added a new anti-war song to my SoundClick music page. It gave it the poetic, symbolic title of Bring Our Soldiers Home, and I set it to the tune of Siúil a Rún, sometimes phonetically transliterated from the Gaelic as Shul Aroon. When you go to my SoundClick music page, it will be the first one at the top. You are welcome to listen to it on-line or download it for free. Here's a clickable link.

I drafted the song back in December. Joel Landy added the final verse, and Anne Price helped polish everything up. The three of us are therefore sharing the credit equally. Here are the words:

BRING OUR SOLDIERS HOME
Tune: Siúil a Rún (traditional)
New words: Steve Suffet, Joel Landy, and Anne Price ©2008

[Begin on chorus]
Home, home, bring our soldiers home.
When you stand for peace, you never stand alone.
Home, home, bring our soldiers home.
Let's bring our soldiers home,
From the army.

We shall not sit with tear drops in our eyes,
We shall not listen to their vicious lies,
We shall stand for peace, and we shall organize,
To bring our soldiers home,
From the army. [Repeat chorus]

We shall not bathe ourselves in bitter tears,
We shall not lose ourselves in darkest fears,
We shall stand up proud and fight the profiteers,
Let's bring our soldiers home,
From the army. [Repeat chorus]

We shall not lose when we are all as one,
And say forever that the war is done,
We shall save our every daughter and save our every son,
Let's bring our soldiers home,
From the army. [Repeat chorus twice]


With a little good luck, Bring Our Soldiers Home will soon be just a historic artifact. Let's hope so.

--- Steve

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Suil a Ruin
From: Willa
Date: 16 Jul 07 - 02:46 PM

Celtic girl
see post from Philippa re chorus, Dec 03 (it's a long thread!)
Two extra verses I have:
I wish, I wish, I wish in vain.
Wish I had my heart again -
in vain,I think, I'd not complain
Is go dté tú mo mhúirnín slán

I sold my rock, sold my reel
Sold my only spinning wheel.
Now he's dead upon the field.
Is go dté tú mo mhúirnín slán

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Suil a Ruin
From: GUEST,Celtic girl
Date: 15 Jul 07 - 09:22 PM

Here are the lyrics as I have them. This version either omits verses or others have been added later. As best as I can guess, the chorus (roughly translated into English) is "I wish, I wish, I wish in vain. I wish I had my heart again and vainly think I'd not complain". I read also that "Is go dté tú mo mhúirnín slán" means "And may you go safely my darling".


I wish I were on yonder hill
'Tis there I'd sit and cry my fill
'Til every tear would turn a mill
Is go dté tú mo mhúirnín slán

Chorus:
Siúil, siúil, siúil a rún
Siúil go sochair agus siúil go ciúin
Siúil go doras agus éalaigh liom
Is go dté tú mo mhúirnín slán

I'll sell my rock, I'll sell my reel
I'll sell my only spinning wheel
To buy my love a sword of steel         
Is go dté tú mo mhúirnín slán

Chorus

I'll dye my petticoats, I'll dye them red
And 'round the world I'll beg my bread
Until my parents shall wish me dead         
Is go dté tú mo mhúirnín slán

But now my love has gone to France
To try his fortune to advance
If he e'er comes back, 'tis but a chance         
Is go dté tú mo mhúirnín slán

Subject: Suil a Ruin / Shool Aroon / Shule Agra
From: Genie
Date: 18 Oct 06 - 05:35 AM

I'm wondering how the seeming nonsensical words used by PP& M (e.g., "shule a rack shack, shule a bobba coon") evolved from the original Gaelic words to Suil a Ruin or Suil Agra.    I can see how "suil" became "shool" of course, but there seem to be some missing links between the Gaelic versions posted here and the versions by PP&M, Chubby Parker, etc., that seem to use nonsense syllables in the chorus.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Suil a Gra
From: GUEST
Date: 05 Aug 06 - 04:56 PM

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Suil a Ruin
From: Willa
Date: 12 Aug 05 - 03:02 PM

Guest DB This link looks interesting http://www.mustrad.org.uk/articles/cronin.htm (Blickifier isn't working for me)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Suil a Ruin
From: Le Scaramouche
Date: 12 Aug 05 - 02:44 PM

It bugs me when people immediately assume that because her love has gone to France to seek his fortune he's with the Wild Geese.
Given the earliest date published, it's far more logical that he's a soldier fighting against Napoleon and company. Look at soldier songs from the same period, they use similar phrases.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Suil a Ruin
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 12 Aug 05 - 02:39 PM

The Napoleonic Wars, as Le Scaramouche says, seems to be the logical origin of the lyrics. The first known printing, as noted by the late Bruce O near the beginning of this thread, is 1825.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Suil a Ruin
From: Le Scaramouche
Date: 12 Aug 05 - 02:17 PM

Is it on the Voice of the People perchance?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Suil a Ruin
From: GUEST,DB
Date: 12 Aug 05 - 11:04 AM

I've looked through all of the threads on this song (I have to say, not terribly rigorously) and am amazed to find only one mention, of what I think to be, one of the greatest recordings of this song ever made: that of Elizabeth Cronin, of Macroom. Co. Cork, Ireland. This was made, in the early 1950s, by either Alan Lomax or Peter Kennedy (unfortunately, I've lost the notes to the record). The record is: The Folk Songs of Britain, Vol. 1: Songs of Courtship (Topic 12T157, 1968 - formerly issued by Caedmon Records, New York, 1961).
Mrs Cronin was very old when this recording was made, and the microphone had to be held very close to her lips, but her rendition of the song is beautiful and has haunted me for years.
I think that the recordings of Elizabeth Cronin may have been re-issued more recently than 1968, on CD (in Ireland?), but I don't have the details to hand.
If anyone has mentioned Mrs Cronin earlier, please accept my apologies and ignore this posting. On the other hand it may prompt someone to seek out the recordings of a truly great traditional singer and be inspired by them.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Suil a Ruin
From: Le Scaramouche
Date: 11 Aug 05 - 10:37 PM

The Robert Louis Stevenson quotes mean little as the master of Ballantrae is from 1888. Well after the song became popular.
My own feelings are that it's a lovely, sentimental song written about the Napoleonics Wars. Going to France to seek one's fortune MAY be about the Wild Geese, but there are dozens of other, more likely possibilities. The Napoleonic Wars especially, as they were the most recent and vivid ones in people's imagination. Had been going on for generations. No need for historical convolutions like the Wild Geese, Jacobites or the Revolutionary War when the obvious stares you in the face.
Before anyone starts on about ordinary soldiers not carrying swords, take it as a bit of poetic licence.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Suil a Ruin
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 11 Aug 05 - 09:59 PM

See the extensive list of links (top of the page) to other discussions here on the same subject. It's unlikely that there is anything new to add unless you can go back a century and more.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Suil a Ruin
From:
Date: 11 Aug 05 - 08:29 PM

The version I learned in grade school should probably predate PP&M, but I am not sure. It would have been somewhere in the vicinity of 1960-1963.
Here I sit on Buttermilk Hill.
-------------- and cry my fill.
-----------------------------
Johnny's gone for a soldier.

Oh, my baby oh, my love,
Gone the rainbow gone the dove.
Your father was my only love.
Johnny's gone for a soldier.

Shool, shool shool aroon.
Shool a rack shack,
shool a bobba coo.
-------------------
Johnny's gone for a soldier.

There are some lines I can't remember and the rest is the recollection in my 50's of words I may have misinterpreted at 11 or 12. The word Buttermilk is what I remember, but may have been corrupted by later hearing the PP&M version. Does anyone esle remember this or any thing similar?

Subject: Lyr Add: JOHNNY IS GONE FOR A SOLDIER
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 30 Aug 04 - 10:04 AM

Mrs. Murphy: I've checked The Lester S. Levy Collection of Sheet Music and The Library of Congress American Memory Collection – usually the best sources for sheet music – but I've found only lyrics, not notes.

However, since I did find one version apparently not posted here before, I might as well post it for posterity:

Copied from http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/amss:@field(DOCID+@lit(as201910)) :

JOHNNY IS GONE FOR A SOLDIER

I'll trace these gardens o'er and o'er,
Meditate on each sweet flower,
Thinking of each happy hour.
Oh, Johnny is gone for a soldier.

CHORUS: Shool, Shool, Shool, agrah!
Time can only ease my woe,
Since the lad of my heart from me did go.
Oh, Johnny is gone for a soldier.

Some say my love is gone to France,
There his fortune to advance,
And if I find him, it's but a chance.
Oh, Johnny is gone for a soldier.

I'll sell my frock. I'll sell my wheel.
I'll by my love a sword of steel,
So in the battle he may reel.
Oh, Johnny is gone for a soldier.

I wish I was on yonder hill.
It's there I'd sit and cry my fill,
So every tear may turn a mill.
Oh, Johnny is gone for a soldier.

I'll dye my dress. I'll dye it red.
All over the world I'll beg my bread,
So my parents may think me dead.
Oh, Johnny is gone for a soldier.

Subject: sheet music for Suil a Ruin version in lord of td
From:
Date: 29 Aug 04 - 07:07 AM

I am planning my will and such, and would like to have a recording of me singing suil a ruin played at my funeral, but cannot find any sheet music for it. if you know where i can find this, i would be very grateful for your help.
thank you,
Mrs. Murphy

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Suil a Ruin
From: GUEST
Date: 28 Jul 04 - 01:00 PM

Subject: RE: Lyrics: Suil a Ruin
From: GUEST,Fionnghaile Nic Chroice
Date: 19 Jul 04 - 04:15 PM

Dia duit gach cailin agus buachaill,
Sin an darna lesh go mach gus go mhaill me mall na deireadh leitir, Suil a Ruin de Clannad go blasta agus Maire go iontach maith,
Slan anois,
Fionnghaile

Subject: RE: Lyrics: Suil a Ruin
From: GUEST
Date: 09 Apr 04 - 06:27 PM

I'm sorry Noreen. No hard feelings at all whatsoever and thank you for the polite correction.(=! I got the composed chorus on a site which listed it as the translation & although I realized that the Irish text wouldn't translate perfectly in that manner, I figured it would work to make sure people didn't think I was singing gibberish for the chorus.

Subject: RE: Lyrics: Suil a Ruin
From: Noreen
Date: 04 Apr 04 - 04:22 PM

GUEST, what you have there is not a translation of the chorus, but is a composed chorus based on the translation (provided above by Philippa).

Subject: RE: tune wanted: Suil a Ruin
From: GUEST
Date: 03 Apr 04 - 04:24 PM

for "some form of the tune", listen to the Mudcat midis, links at the top of the page (assuming they are working)

Subject: RE: Lyrics: Suil a Ruin
From: GUEST
Date: 03 Apr 04 - 03:31 PM

hmm,
I have a translation of the chorus as;
Come, come, come, O love
Quickly come to me, softly move;
Come to the door, and away we'll flee,
And safe for aye may my darling be.

This would mean that at the end of every verse the last line of the chorus is sung-or at least in the versions I know of. Does anyone have sheet music or at least some form of the tune of Siuil a Run? I have all the versions of lyrics I'll ever need, but I haven't been able to find any sheet music with the tune on it for voice. Any help on finding an Irish songbook with Siuil a Run in it would be wonderful. My email is [e-mail]

Subject: Lyr Add: JOHNNY IS GONE FOR A SOLDIER
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 25 Jan 04 - 01:59 AM

Copied from The Library of Congress American Memory Collection:
(H. De Marsan, Publisher, No. 54 Chatham Street, N. Y. [no date])

JOHNNY IS GONE FOR A SOLDIER

I'll trace these gardens o'er and o'er,
Meditate on each sweet flower,
Thinking of each happy hour.
Oh, Johnny is gone for a soldier.

CHORUS: Shool, shool, shool, agrah!
Time can only ease my woe,
Since the lad of my heart from me did go.
Oh, Johnny is gone for a soldier.

Some say my love is gone to France,
There his fortune to advance,
And if I find him it's but a chance,
Oh, Johnny is gone for a soldier. CHORUS

I'll sell my frock. I'll sell my wheel.
I'll buy my love a sword of steel,
So in the battle he may reel,
Oh, Johnny is gone for a soldier. CHORUS

I wish I was on yonder hill.
It's there I'd sit and cry my fill,
So every tear my turn a mill,
Oh, Johnny is gone for a soldier. CHORUS

I'll dye my dress. I'll dye it red.
All over the world I'll beg my bread,
So my parents may think me dead.
Oh, Johnny is gone for a soldier. CHORUS

Subject: RE: Lyrics: Suil a Ruin
From: GUEST,Martin Ryan
Date: 05 Dec 03 - 05:11 PM

Philippa

Either the elves have been at work merging threads again or I'm away with the fairies!

Regards

Subject: RE: Lyrics: Suil a Ruin
From: GUEST,Philippa
Date: 05 Dec 03 - 05:08 PM

walk quietly my love, walk to the door and come away with me, and may you go safely, my love.

Alessandra, see 8 Dec 98 message #2 from Philippa, above

Martin said "I think there's a translation on another thread" ; maybe but there's one here!

Subject: RE: Lyrics: Suil a Ruin
From: GUEST, Could someone please translate the chorus?
Date: 05 Dec 03 - 11:53 AM

"Siúl,Siúl,Siúl, a rúin
Siúl go socair agus siúl go ciúin
Siúl go doras
Agus ealaigh liom
Is go dté tú mo mhúirnín slán..."

That would be awesome If somone could translate that for me!

You can e-mail me at [e-mail]
-Kate Doherty

Subject: RE: Lyrics: Suil a Ruin
From: GUEST,Martin Ryan
Date: 21 Nov 03 - 08:06 AM

I think there's a translation on another thread, but here's a quick version:

Walk, walk, walk my love
there is no cure but death
Since you left, my lot is sad
May you go safely, my love.

Regards

Subject: RE: Lyrics: Suil a Ruin
From: GUEST,Alessandra
Date: 21 Nov 03 - 07:41 AM

Hello everybody. I'm writing from Italy and hope you will excuse me if I make some mistake in writing here.

I've just known this wonderful song and... could anyone tell me what's the meaning of these verses (and the correct spelling, if possible)?

chorus: Siúl,Siúl,Siúl a ghrá
Níl leigheas ar fáil ach leigheas an bháis
Ó d'fhag tú mise is bocht mo chás
Is go dté tú mo mhúirnín slán

Many thanks

Subject: RE: Siúl a Rúin
From: Felipa
Date: 12 Apr 03 - 01:54 PM

excellent, míle buíochas - mòran taing - 1000 thank-yous to Jim

Subject: RE: Lyrics: Suil a Ruin
From: Peter T.
Date: 12 Apr 03 - 11:00 AM

What a pleasant thing to read some Stevenson (what a weird novel that was!). yours, Peter T.

Subject: RE: Lyrics: Suil a Ruin
From: Jim McLean
Date: 12 Apr 03 - 09:48 AM

......From that hour, at least, began the siege of Mrs. Henry; a thing so deftly carried on that I scarce know if she was aware of it herself, and that her husband must look on in silence. The first parallel was opened (as was made to appear) by accident. The talk fell, as it did often, on the exiles in France; so it glided to the matter of their songs.   
"There is one," says the Master, "if you are curious in these matters, that has always seemed to me very moving. The poetry is harsh; and yet, perhaps because of my situation, it has always found the way to my heart. It is supposed to be sung, I should tell you, by an exile's sweetheart; and represents perhaps, not so much the truth of what she is thinking, as the truth of what he hopes of her, poor soul! in these far lands." And here the Master sighed, "I protest it is a pathetic sight when a score of rough Irish, all common sentinels, get to this song; and you may see, by their falling tears, how it strikes home to them. It goes thus, father," says he, very adroitly taking my lord for his listener, "and if I cannot get to the end of it, you must think it is a common case with us exiles." And thereupon he struck up the same air as I had heard the Colonel whistle; but now to words, rustic indeed, yet most pathetically setting forth a poor girl's aspirations for an exiled lover; of which one verse indeed (or something like it) still sticks by me:—         O, I will dye my petticoat red,
With my dear boy I'll beg my bread,
Though all my friends should wish me dead,
For Willie among the rushes, O!

He sang it well, even as a song; but he did better yet a performer. I have heard famous actors, when there was not a dry eye in the Edinburgh theatre; a great wonder to behold; but no more wonderful than how the Master played upon that little ballad, and on those who heard him, like an instrument, and seemed now upon the point of failing, and now to conquer his distress, so that words and music seemed to pour out of his own heart and his own past, and to be aimed directly at Mrs. Henry.
Jim McLean

Subject: RE: Lyrics: Suil a Ruin
From: Jim McLean
Date: 12 Apr 03 - 09:26 AM

From 'persecutions endured by Mr Henry.....The Master of Ballantrae'.
He cocked his hat at me, as if I had been to blame for this partiality; then changed again into his usual swaggering civility, shook me by the hand, and set off down to the boat, with the money under his arms, and whistling as he went the pathetic air of shule aroon. It was the first time I had heard that tune; I was to hear it again, words and all, as you shall learn, but I remember how that little stave of it ran in my head after the freetraders had bade him "Wheesht, in the deil's name," and the grating of the oars had taken its place, and I stood and watched the dawn creeping on the sea, and the boat drawing away, and the lugger lying with her foresail backed awaiting it.
Jim McLean

Subject: Lyr Add: Shuile Agra
From: Felipa
Date: 12 Apr 03 - 07:03 AM

The following is published in Seán McMahon,The Poolbeg Book of Irish Ballads. Dublin: Poolbeg, 1991. The second verse is similar to the Irish language verse "Is minic a bhréag tú mé ar do ghlúin, ..."
Seán's a man I don't meet everyday, but he doesn't live far from me, so maybe someday I'll question him about the source of this version. The words are very similar to a broadside version, Shula Agrah,published by Haly (19th century), which Bruce O. contributed to Mudcat 22 Sept 1999.

McMahon's notes:
"Eighteenth-century ballad associated with service in Europrean armies with residual Irish in the title and the first and last lines of the refrain. There are many versions since it is easily adaptable to particular places - the Brandon Hill named here is often changed. The title means literally, "Walk, love." and the almost buried [ie, corrupted] Irish of the last lines means, "May my darling travel safely."

SHUILE AGRA [note, stress the second syllable in Agra]
Anonymous

As I roved through my new garden bowers,
To gaze upon the fast fading flowers,
And think upon the happiest hours
That fled in the Summer's bloom.

chorus
Shuile, shuile, shuile agra,
Time alone can ease my woe;
Since the lad of my heart from me did go
Gotheen mavourneen slaun.

'Tis often I sat on my true-lover's knee
And many a fond story he told me.
He told me things that ne'er should be.
Gotheen mavourneen slaun.

I'll sell my rock, I'll sell my reel,
When flax is spun I'll sell my wheel,
To buy my love a sword of steel,
Gotheen mavourneen slaun.

I'll dye my petticoat, I'll die it red
And round the world I'll beg my bread,
That all my friends should wish me dead.
Gotheen mavourneen slaun.

I wish I were on Brandon Hill
'Tis there I'll sit and cry my fill,
That every tear would turn a mill
Gotheen mavourneen slaun.

No more am I that blooming maid
That used to rove the valley shade,
My youth and bloom are all decayed,
Gotheen mavourneen slaun.

Shuile, shuile, shuile agra,
Time alone can ease my woe;
Since the lad of my heart from me did go
Gotheen mavourneen slaun.

-----
I saw a 1995 message in IrTrad-L from Breandán Dalton in which he tells of Siúl a Rúin being sung in Scotland: "It was first made popular in Scotland during the Jacobite rebellion by Irish kerns fighting for Charles, and it gets a namecheck in [Robert Louis Stevenson's] novel 'The master of Ballintrae'."

Bruce O. also gives a Scottish version in this thread
Can anyone verify & quote The Master of Ballantrae citation?

Subject: RE: Lyrics: Suil a Ruin
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 16 Jan 03 - 11:03 AM

This song may hold the record for most-mutilated Gaelic.

A version collected in Wisconson goes (similar to what Art posted)

I'll sell my hat and sell my coat
To buy my wife a little boat
And down the river we will float
Come bibble in the lush-eye-lor-rie.