Another one of the big Munster songs comes from the singing of Díarmuíd Ó Súilleabhain. My understanding is that he was part of a group of Muskerry singers who combed the archives of traditional songs looking for good ones to revive. They found this one. It is a west Cork version of the song usually heard in the west Kerry version. I much prefer the Cork version because the melody sounds much more earthy, even primitive (being in the G-mode, or Mixolydian, with the flatted 7th) than its Kerry counterpart. It is a macaronic song (in two languages) with the alternating English verses being loose (sometimes very loose) translations of the Irish verses.
This song is a good example of how the frank sensuality of the Celts has overcome centuries of Roman Catholic influence and oozes out in the songs of the people, with the obvious plowing metaphor. This is also an example of the lyrical (as opposed to narrative) nature of traditional Irish songs: the plot is only hinted at; the feelings, boasts, and pleading of the characters hold sway; and the point of view of the song changes in the last verse, switching to the woman's perspective.
The laboring "boy" or spalpeen was a landless laborer and an endemic fixture in the Irish countryside since the eighteenth century. Spalpeens occupied the lowest rung of society. In some songs their status was even lower than that of the Tinkers. Yet they hold a privileged place in folklore as a prime sexual symbol.
Only Díarmuíd Ó Súilleabhain and his sister, Éilís, have recorded this song, to my knowledge.
lyrics
11. Bruach na Carraige Báine
(Banks of Carraige Báine) Traditional
Nuair a éiríos fein ar maidin go moch
I bhfad amach sa bhfómhar,
Cé a chífinn romham ach stór mo chroí
Agus d'fhéach sí féin go fónta.
Mar do bhí sí siúd deas dearg is donn
Is a leacainn mar na rósaí
Nuair a dh'fháisceas í go dlúth lem chroí
'Sé dúirt sí: “Cá mbíonn tú ido chónaí?”
As I roved out for to view the plains
One pleasant morning early,
Who should I spy, but a pretty fair maid,
And she dressed up so nately.
Her cherry cheeks and ruby lips,
Her eyes would dazzle the daisies.
When I took that fair maid by the hand
She said: “Young man, go aisy.”
Mar is treabhdóir mise go fónta ar mo cheird,
Mar is maith atá 'fhios ag am' chomharsain,
Is mó páirc riamh do threabhas-sa féin
Gan mé bheith tinn ná leonta.
Do bhainfinn féar in íochtar cnoic,
Do dhéanfainn cruach nó stáicín,
Do rincfinn ríl leat, a stór mo chroí,
Ar bhruach na Carraige Báine.
For I am a ploughboy the seed for to sow,
And that is well-known to my neighbors,
It is many the field that I have ploughed
And that without much labor.
I'd plough and sow, both reap and mow,
And gather it into your garden.
I'd sweep the floor and dance with you
On the banks of Carraige Báine.
Do leathfainn fallaing duitse, a fhir óig,
Mura mbeadh ann ach leithead cianóige
Dá mbeadh 'fhios agam go mbeifeá liom
Gan dabht tú féin do b'fhearr liom.
Ó, gléasaigh suas, a óigfhir lean
Agus gluais liom fhéin thar sáile,
Agus treabhfaimid no tonnta trean'
Ó bruach na Carraige Báine.
I would spread my mantle for you young man,
If 'twas only the breadth of a farthing,
If I thought your mind was as good as your word,
It is you of course I'd rather.
So awake, arise, my laboring boy
And come away with me in the morning,
And we will plough the briny waves
From the banks of Carraige Báine.
David entertains in the old-fashioned way, with warmth and wit, as if he were sitting with the audience around the turf fire
in an Irish cottage long ago. David has been singing old-style Irish songs for 40 years and is deeply invested in collecting, researching, and performing them authentically and entertainingly....more
