The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #10469   Message #726480
Posted By: Willa
09-Jun-02 - 08:41 AM
Thread Name: Origins: Ard Ti Chuain/Quiet Land of Erin
Subject: Lyr Add: QUIET LAND OF ERIN
Here you are, just in case you are not used to finding your way around the site.
Alice requested this song in the macarónachas thread. I used to have a recording of Jean Redpath singing "The Quiet Land of Erin" and here's how I remember it:

By myself I'd be in Ard Ti Chuain*
Where the mountains stand away
And 'tis there I'd let the Sundays pass
In a quiet glen above the bay
(chorus)
agus och och Eire lig is o
Eire leanndubh agus o
The quiet land of Erin

But my heart is weary all alone
And it sends a lonely cry
To the land that sings above my dreams
And the lonely Sundays pass me by.

I would ravel back the twisted years
and the bitter wasted winds
If the Lord above would let me lie
In a quiet place above the whins.

[*í is a long 'e' sound. 'ch' as in 'loch' or 'chanukah', but it's more a 'c' than an'h', I think Redpath sang 'Orshiecoon']

The late Sean Ò Gallochóir of Derry didn't like this version much. He made his own translation. If I see any of his progeny about when next I'm in Derry, I'll ask if they have the words.
I'll add Irish lyrics when I have more time. The original mentions place names in County Antrim; the singer is looking across from Scotland. He's also nostalgic about his 'caman', his hurley stick. They play camogie in Scotland too, but not on Sundays, could that have been a source of the lament?!