Lyr Req: Mo Choill (Altan)

Subject: Lyr req: Mo Choill (Altan)
From: Jon W.
Date: 23 Feb 98 - 11:12 AM

My wife has fallen in love with this song and wants the words. It is sung in Gaelic on an album by Altan (which may have the lyrics, but we don't have) and also on a compilation album of Celtic women (which we have, but doesn't have the lyrics). If anyone has lyrics in Gaelic and/or English, please post. Thanks, Jon W.

Subject: RE: Lyr req: Mo Choill (Altan)
From: Bruce O.
Date: 23 Feb 98 - 11:23 AM

Mo Chailin donn og (My Bonnie Brown Maid)?

Subject: RE: Lyr req: Mo Choill (Altan)
From: Jon W.
Date: 23 Feb 98 - 11:40 AM

I don't know if that's it or not. It's on the album "Harvest Storm" if memory serves. I know only a few words of Gaelic so can't understand it at all but one line of the chorus may contain: "mo choill, choill, choill" if that's any help.

Subject: RE: Lyr req: Mo Choill (Altan)
From: Bruce O.
Date: 23 Feb 98 - 12:08 PM

No, wrong song. I don't have a Scots Gaelic dictionary, and don't know what 'choill' is. 'Chailin' is 'maid'. 'Coill' has two meanings in Irish Gaelic, neither of which seems to make sense here. Modern Irish Gaelic has reformed spelling considerably, even from the early 20th century, and most of the h's following consonants have been dropped. E.g., old 'buidhe' (yellow) is now just 'bui'.

Try Scots-L list if nothing better turns up here. Craig Cockburn on that list is really good on Scots Gaelic songs and music.

Subject: RE: Lyr req: Mo Choill (Altan)
From: MM
Date: 23 Feb 98 - 07:22 PM

What's the name of the album? Have you looked in the Ceolas archive of Irish music?

http://celtic.stanford.edu/ceolas.html

Subject: RE: Lyr req: Mo Choill (Altan)
From: Jon W.
Date: 24 Feb 98 - 10:29 AM

I could not find it on Ceolas or subsequent links. I have verified that it is on the album Harvest Storm.

Subject: RE: Lyr req: Mo Choill (Altan)
From: MM
Date: 24 Feb 98 - 04:30 PM

I'll take a look on the album and see about the words.

Subject: Lyr Add: MO CHOILL (from Altan)
From: GUEST,Philippa
Date: 10 Jun 02 - 09:17 AM

Ciarili sent me the following lyrics and translation. I think they are from the notes for an Altan album. The song is from the singing of Róise na n'amhrán. It was given to her by a highland man, Neil MacCurdy, who was working on the lighthouse of Aranmore Island. The translation is by Proinsias Ó Maonaigh.

MO CHOILL

Tá taistealaí breá in sa tír
'S tá sé scríofa ar a bhord
Chuir mé litir ins a phost
Agus gealltanas a pos'

Curfá :
'S tú mo choill, coill, coill
'S tú mo choill gaineach bán
'S tú mo ghiolla dubh ar luaimh
Os ar ucht tú 'bheith slán

Tiocfaidh 'n long ins a chuan
'S cuirfidh sí suas na driúrlann
Nuair a shilfeas a' fíon
Beidh an long ar a' trá
v

Ó níl agam ar a' tsaoil
Ach an aon fear amháin
A chuir Aoife faoi shiúil
'S ar bord an "Man-of-War"

Nuair a théimse faoi shiúil
'S d'fhág mo rún leabaí fáin
Nuair a chuala mé mo rún
A bheith ar chúl na dtonn tréan

------
Translation (Prionsias Ó Maonaigh)

There's a gentleman in this land
It's recorded on the board
I've sent a letter by post haste
To pledge my love and married bliss

Chorus:
You are my love, love, love
You are my loved one so fair
You are my dark sailor boy
And I wish for your care

A ship to the bay
Sets the casks on the rails
When the wine's drained away
She'll be ready to sail

In all this wide world
There is only one man I care
Whom Aoife dismissed
And put on board the "Man-of-War"

When I journeyed away
And my love's bed reneged
When I heard that my love
Was abroad on the waves

Subject: RE: Lyr req: Mo Choill (Altan)
From: GUEST
Date: 12 Oct 13 - 03:34 PM

This is the Scottish (and Rathlin Island) song "Thug mi gaol don fhear bhàn" – see video here. Like "Domhnall agus Mórag", it was taken to Donegal by Rathlin man Neil McCurdy. My impression is that the Donegal folk didn't understand the words completely and any attempt to make literal sense of their versions may be misguided eg. "coill" is really "gaol".