Irish Translation Forum

Hey, I have been trying to figure out what, exactly, certain words of the song Whiskey in the Jar (by Metallica/Thin Lizzy/The Dubliners/Grateful Dead) mean or if they mean anything at all. I have been trying to do some research and some people say it is jibberish and some people say that it means something.

The phrase is something like "m'uishe rinne me don amada" (it sounds like "musha ring dumma do dumma da"). I have heard from a source that it could loosely translate to "whiskey makes a fool of me." Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. And if this means nothing, could I get some help on translating the phrase "whiskey makes a fool of/out of me"?

Thanks in advance.

bOBrien7 wrote:Hey, I have been trying to figure out what, exactly, certain words of the song Whiskey in the Jar (by Metallica/Thin Lizzy/The Dubliners/Grateful Dead) mean or if they mean anything at all. I have been trying to do some research and some people say it is jibberish and some people say that it means something.

The phrase is something like "m'uishe rinne me don amada" (it sounds like "musha ring dumma do dumma da"). I have heard from a source that it could loosely translate to "whiskey makes a fool of me." Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. And if this means nothing, could I get some help on translating the phrase "whiskey makes a fool of/out of me"?

Thanks in advance.

A ha! So that's what it means!

Some people here will give you the quick answer: It doesn't mean anything. I tend to agree generally although anything's possible.

But if it were "M'uisce rinne mé don amadán" it would be very bad grammar and sound something like "mwishka rinna may don amadawn". I don't think that's it. Maybe more correctly it would be "Rinne uisce bheatha amadán díom" or even "(Is) m'uisce (bheatha) a rinne amadán díom".

Get more input on this.

Cheers

Tim

I have usually seen the chorus of that song transcribed as "misha ring dum a doo dum a dah."

It is whiskey that made a fool of me could be

Fuisce a rinne díom amadán
FWISH-kuh rinya jee-um ah-muh-dawn.

But such nonsense lilting are commonplace in Irish song, so I wouldn't read much into this besides a very creative interpretation.

I think I can help take it a bit further. Muise (spelling varies) is an Irish expression of frustration with no actual meaning, but usually said at the beginning of sentences with varying meanings like "heck", "darn", "the hell with it", "f-word", or just "Aargh!".

I think deorai was close with his answer. I think it might be:

Muise, rinne mé díom amadán.
F---, I made a fool [out] of myself.

How about "a fool for you", huh?

"Muise, rinne díom duit amadán"

No?

OK, I'll go away and hide now.

The Goy from Japan wrote:But if it were "M'uisce [a] rinne mé don amadán" it would be very bad grammar...

Not just bad grammer, a completely different meaning! My water that I made from the fool.

I still think think it's just nonsense - I think it's called lilting but I know little about this. It is common to have such meaningless phrases in songs. Next you'll be telling me the following line means something too!

You are only considering one variant, among many, of these words (gibberish) too:

Musha rig um du rum da, / Whack fol the daddy O,
Whack fol the daddy O, / There's whiskey in the jar.
(from Wikipedia)

Another question to consider is why the lyrics in question would be in Irish. The song is in English.

scoobytyson wrote:Another question to consider is why the lyrics in question would be in Irish. The song is in English.

Why not? The song "Buachall Óg" is in Irish, but the lines "one day your loneliness will end" are English.

Richie wrote:

scoobytyson wrote:Another question to consider is why the lyrics in question would be in Irish. The song is in English.

Why not? The song "Buachall Óg" is in Irish, but the lines "one day your loneliness will end" are English.

Why is a more appropriate question than why not, in my opinion. Why not Swahili? - no, don't answer that, I'm not serious. I am only suggesting that we need firstly to avoid jumping to the conclusion that the words have meaning. Secondly, there is no good reason for us to assume the words are in Irish either.

"musha ring dumma do dumma da"

you got it there.
It means nothing.
It a traditional form of singing in Ireland called Portaireacht Béil. I don't know what you'd call it in English. You make a tune out of words.
I think Red Wolf would be better at explaining that.