The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #169209   Message #4142228
Posted By: GUEST,Guest Joan F
22-May-22 - 03:59 AM
Thread Name: Lyr Add: Mudcat singaround songs NOT in English
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Mudcat singaround songs NOT in English
I sang it in English, as I *can't* sing in Irish. Trust me on that one.

I did do the chorus in what my source for the song, Ciara Thompson at her lecture at the Traditional Song Forum, said were "vocables", i.e. nonsense syllables used in Irish lullabies.

Turns out I was mispronouncing one & its not just a vocable, said Felipa, but a real Irish word, seoithin (sp?), meaning "sough of the wind".

I wrote to Ciara T. about this & she says that its thought that the vocables in Irish lullabies are what remain of ancient charms/spells, so they can have both retained real-word meanings & nonsense-for-lullaby "meanings".

Makes sense to me!

I still don't pretend to get Irish pronunciations right.