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    Nolwenn Leroy

    Mná na hÉireann → English translation→ English

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The women of Ireland

Click to see the original lyrics (Gaelic (Irish Gaelic))
There's a woman in Ireland who'd give me a gem and my fill to drink,
There's a woman in Ireland to whom my singing is sweeter than the music of strings
There's a woman in Ireland who would much prefer me leaping
Than laid in the clay and my belly under the sod
 
There's a woman in Ireland who'd envy me if I got naught but a kiss
From a woman at a fair, isn't it strange, and the love I have for them
There's a woman I'd prefer to a battalion, and a hundred of them whom I will never get
And an ugly, swarthy man with no English has a beautiful girl
 
There's a woman who would say that if I walked with her I'd get the gold
And there's the woman of the shirt whose mien is better than herds of cows
With a woman who would deafen baile an mhaoir and the plain of tyrone
And I see no cure for my disease but to have a drink
 
Original lyrics

Mná na hÉireann

Click to see the original lyrics (Gaelic (Irish Gaelic))

Nolwenn Leroy: Top 3
1.Tri Martolod
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Comments
michealtmichealt    Tue, 04/04/2017 - 22:12

A couple of errors:
verse 1 lineS 3 & 4: "tá bean in Éirinn is níorbh fhearr léi beo
Mise ag léimnigh nó..."
means
"There is a woman in Ireland who would not prefer me alive and leaping than..."

Verse 3 line 3: "bhuairfeadh" doesn't mean "would deafen", more like "would perturb/vex/worry/trouble/cause sorrow for". (the root verb is "buair", see http://www.teanglann.ie/en/fgb/buair) And the English name of Baile an Mhaoir is Ballymoyer.

Incidentally, there's no "atá" in that line, just "tá".

It's a nice song, seems a bit odd when sung by a woman but no odder than when I sing Crucán na bPáiste.

Ada LovegirlsAda Lovegirls    Thu, 04/04/2019 - 02:55

I posit to you this: some women love women*

* Source: Me, a woman that loves women

AlexisgrAlexisgr    Tue, 22/12/2020 - 09:59

Text : Peadar Ó Doirnín (Peter O'Dornin, 1704–1796)
Composer : Seán Ó Riada (John Reidy, 1931–1971)
In my Greek translation I took into consideration the above remarks made by Tom Thomson.
I published my translation just to present "Mná na hÉireann" sung by the incomparable Seán O Sé (Sean Ο’ Sea, 83 years old today and still going strong!).

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