Lyr Req: With Kitty I'll Go for a Ramble

12 Sep 99 - 02:34 PM (#113643)
Subject: Kitty's rambles
From: Philippa

Lyrics for WITH KITTY I'LL GO are on the database. As sung by Jean Ritchie. But Jean collected a bilingual English AND Irish-Gaelic version of the song from Dermott Barry, Co Armagh. She sings only the English verses and only these ones appear in the DT. Martin Ryan is already chasing this one, but I thought I might as well throw the query open to other Mudcatters.

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12 Sep 99 - 04:17 PM (#113668)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Kitty's rambles
From: bigJ

Hi Philippa, The song, sung by Dermott Barry appears on the recording 'As I Roved Out' recorded by Jean and George Pickow. And it's available on Ossian Records, Cork (OSS 15). I don't know if it's an alternative or not, but there's a song called 'Rachad-sa 'smo Cheati' (My Kitty and I will Go walking) on Tomas O Canain's 'With Pipe and Song' record (1980) on the Outlet Records label OAS 3055 of Belfast.

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13 Sep 99 - 10:15 AM (#113834)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Kitty's rambles
From: Martin Ryan

Well done, bigJ! Sounds like you've saved me some hunting!

Regards

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27 Aug 00 - 03:23 PM (#286167)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Kitty's rambles
From: GUEST,Philippa

The title of the song which bigJ mentions doesn't 'ring a bell' although I may have heard it. I see from the web that it's also recorded by Aine Ui Laoithe & Eibhlin Ui Chearna on an album called Mighty Session
or for America/Canada distribution: Mighty Session

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06 Sep 00 - 09:15 PM (#292528)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Kitty's rambles
From: GUEST,Philippa

I've retyped the verse of Tuirse Mo Chro¡ with the more dependable ampersand codes for the accented letters.

Dhéanfaidh mé cuilt de mo bhríste a mhairfeas le saol na bhfear,
Is ní bhainfaidh mé'n fhéasóg seo díom nó go bhfásaidh sí míle ar fad,
Dá mbeinn-se mar sin go dtí'n díle, chomh giobach le caora ghlas,
Mar bhfagfaidh mise bean ar an chaoi sin, bhal, fágfaidh mé'n saol ar fad.

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22 Jan 03 - 10:23 AM (#872218)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Kitty's rambles
From: MMario

X:1
T:SILE
N:Micheál Bowles, "Claisceadal 1"
I:abc2nwc
M:3/4
L:1/8
K:C
z2A2A2|d2d2d2|c2A2G2|(F4G2)|A4A2|G2F2E2|
D4D2|D6-|D4D2|F2E2D2|F2G2A2|c6|A2A2G2|
A2d2d2|d4e2|d6-|d4D2|F2E2D2|F2G2A2|
c6|(A4G2)|A4d2d2|d4e2|(d4c2|A2)^B2c2|d2d2d2||
c2A2G2|(F4G2)|A4A2|G2F2E2|D4D2|D6-|D4z2|]

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22 Jan 03 - 10:05 PM (#872541)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Kitty's rambles
From: kytrad (Jean Ritchie)

I'd better confess and set the record straight- although it was no secret- I'm pretty sure I talked about it in my record notes at the time. The second verse was written by myself, at least I'm assuming that's the verse you mean, as I don't read Irish more's the pity.
Here are the words I added, to make that lovely song a bit longer:

O my darlin we lark of the heather, your voice is so sweet to me
As the stars all singin together where the mountains sweep down to   
the sea,
Sure and all of Erin's bright treasures, or her beautiful lochs and rills
Could not equal one smile from my Caitlin, my queen of the heathery hills.

George and I, newlyweds then, were visiting Sarah Makem...Seamus Ennis and Peter Kennedy had given us her name to "be sure to see" on our travels. While we were in Keady we were led to Sean O'Boyle and his fellow-professor at the school at which they taught- never forget the two of them running across the fields (a shortcut) and leaping the fences in those billowing, somewhat raggedy black "gowns" they wore when teaching (we must have taken them away on their lunch hour!)

Sean introduced his friend as Jerry Hicks. Sean sang several fine songs for us, then when we asked Jerry to sing, he requested that we put his name down as Dermott Barry, as he felt that a better name for a singer. After he finished, I was so stunned by the beauty of the song, and I asked if that were all of it- he said it was. A year or so later when we were recording some of our favorites from that trip, I added the middle verse. I know it was tampering, in a way, but I made every effort to notate my addition whenever it was reprinted or recorded. I do apologize if it has offended anyone- I so love the song!             Jean

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23 Jan 03 - 07:18 PM (#873331)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Kitty's rambles
From: kytrad (Jean Ritchie)

Sorry- That should be "WEE lark", not "we lark" in the first line:
O my darlin wee lark of the heather...

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24 Jan 03 - 08:20 AM (#873688)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Kitty's rambles
From: GUEST,Philippa

thanks for additional info, though I still seek more lyrics and how the song became bilingual. I think Jerry Hicks is deceased. He had a record of songs in Irish on Gael-Linn. I remember the photo of Errigal mountain on the cover.

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24 Jan 03 - 07:58 PM (#874266)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Kitty's rambles
From: kytrad (Jean Ritchie)

Couldn't a song become bilingual when a singer trnslates it for him(her)self and sings it that way? I can think of many situations, in which a singer who speaks, say, both Irish and English, would make a choice as to how he(she) presented a song, even around a fireside at home or at a neighbor's house. When we were traveling in Ireland in 1952, Mrs. Cronin in Cork (as one example) would sometimes sing a verse in Irish and immediately repeat the verse in English- throughout the song. Lovely, and fairly astounding to us!

If you're near Galway, our 1952-53 collection in Ireland now is available to hear (and George's photos, to see) in the James Hardiman Library, University College, Galway, as the Ritchie-Pickow Archive. Marie Reddan is the librarian. It's probably by appointment, as I don't believe it is permanently mounted and on view.    Jean

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05 Mar 03 - 07:23 AM (#903871)
Subject: Lyr Add: Rachad-sa is mo Cheaiti
From: GUEST,Philippa

No, Jean, I wasn't referring to your second verse at all; I have only heard the Jerry Hicks/Dermot Barry recording ; I referred to his "2nd verse in Irish"
(though your lyrics are in the DT, Jean - I'm afraid I don't think your verse fits all that well with the others)

I recently heard Tomás Ó Canainn singing "Rachad-sa 's mo Cheaití" live. Although the song goes to a different air, I did notice verses similar both to the first verse of Kitty and to the verse I referred to on Aug 27 2000 (my whiskers unkempt and unshaven). But another version I've heard [see transcription below] has only the first verse in common and is otherwise quite different from With Kitty I'd Go for a Ramble. Perhaps "With Kitty... " is a fragment divorced from the longer song, or these could be "floating verses" that are found in several songs.

Sometime Mudcatter Ciarili sent me these verses and notes from Finola Ó Siochrú, who has recorded Raghad-sa is mo Cheaití as she learned it from Máiréad Bean Mhic Dhonnchadh .
[raghad is an alternative spelling for rachad]
It is clear in the verses below that the narrator in this version has already married Katy.

"A song from the Blasket Islands [off the coast of Kerry].
In this version, it seems the singer fears his wife will abandon him, whereas according to local knowledge, it is about a woman who has drowned.
Either way, the singer longs to be walking with her in the mountains. "

RACHAD-SA 'S MO CHEAITÍ

Ó raghad-sa is mo Cheaití
bhálcaireacht amach ar na sléibhte cuain
Nó ar oileáinín mhara liom féinig
mar a dtéann na héin chun suain
Ansúd a bhíodh nead ag an bhfiach dubh,
's an fiolar ag éamh cois cuain
Agus mise á agairt chun Dé
suas solas an lae bhreith uaim

Ó 's a Cheaití, nach náireach mar scéal é,
má imíonn tú in aon chor uaim
Mar gur gheallais don sagart ná déanfá
mé a mhalairt go raghainn san uaigh
Do cuireadh bocht dealbh sa tsaol mé,
is mo charaid i bhfad uaim
Ó is a Dhia, go mbeirir chugat féin mé
má imíonn mo chéad shearc uaim

Agus ciach ar an sagart a phós mé,
nár fhág sé mé i dtreo na mban
Nó ag rinnce le cailíní óga,
ag ithe 's ag ól 'na measc
'S é an ní do shuaigh 's do bhreoidh mé,
mé a cheangal go hóg le réic
Nár fhág mise ag cnuchairt na móna,
ná ag seoladh na mbó thar lear

'S tá sioc agus sneachta ar na sléibhte,
is mise liom féin dá siúl
Ag féachaint chá bhfeicfinn mo spéirbhean,
a bhí bacalach, péarlach, fionn
Ba ghile ar a com í ná Venus,
is ba bhinne a béal ná an fhliúit
Ó is dá bhfaighinnse mo chumann ina haonar,
do phógfainnse a béal go dlúth

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31 Mar 16 - 04:03 AM (#3782390)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: With Kitty I'll Go for a Ramble
From: MartinRyan

Refreshing for reference ...

Regards

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24 Apr 21 - 07:46 AM (#4103316)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: With Kitty I'll Go for a Ramble
From: Felipa

another courting song, Bheadh Buachaillín Deas ag Síle (Sheila would have a nice young lad), goes to the same tune as With Kitty I'll Go For a Ramble.

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