Buachaill ón Éirne is a very well-known song in Ireland. I can say certainly that in the North many people sing it and most have learned the song not from recordings but from other singers or from language or music classes. I have only ever heard the one version, give or take a verse, so I was surprised to see ten verses published in Éinrí Ó Muirgheasa's "Céad de Cheoltaibh Uladh" (1915, new re-edited edition published 1983), under the title "Buachaill Uí Néill".

Although many people sing "Buachaill on Éirne" in a slow mournful manner, the words always struck me as merry and boasting. The extra verses in Ó Muirgheasa put a different spin on the song as a couple of them regret the singer's licentious ways, "Murab é an t-ól bheadh cóta daite ar mo dhroim," (if it weren't for the drink I'd have a dyed coat on my back) and there are also lines which tell of longing for his dear.

Here follows the first verse (slightly different from the one you know) as published by Ó Muirgheasa and his notes on this song.

Buachaill Uí Néill mé a bhréagadh bruinneall deas óg,
Is tá an leabhar ar mo bhéal nach ndéanfaidh do mhalairt go deo; Is dá gcreidfí mo scéal ba liom féin an Contae Mhaigh Eo

"This is a very broken, battered song, but it is heard all over Ulster, and contains some very beautiful verses. It appears to be the lament of a wild reckless fellow of the O'Neill's who has lost the girl of his heart through his own folly, and who is beginning to see through the error of his ways, though yet unrepentant. The staple part of the song as given here was taken down by Seán Ó Grianna from Máire Ní Ghríanna of Rinn na Feirste in Donegal.

"I got a Co. Armagh version from a man, now deceased, called 'doctor' McKeown of Oough Rus near Crossmaglen, and a few verses from Andrew Markey of Dundalk, also a Co. Armagh man; while still another Co. Armagh version appeared in the 'Dundalk Democrat'.

"Verse VIII. is very common in Connacht: it will be found on page 20 of Dr Hyde's 'Love Songs of Connacht.' I struck two other verses out of Green's [Ó Grianna] copy, partly because they did not appear to belong to the song, and partly because the song is too long even without them."

Verse VIII is best-known to me as the first verse of 'Tá mé mo shuí'. For me, it is odd to see this verse as a floating verse because it is the predominant, focal verse of'Tá mé mo shuí' in which the singer sits in solitary thought while everyone else is asleep.