Irish Translation Forum

Hi. I have a friend trying to learn this song and was hoping someone out there could help us with the pronunciation of the Gaelic and a translation. Thanks ever so much for your kind assistance. We truly do appreciate it. The song is


Bean Pháidín
Paddy's Wife


CURFÁ:
‘Sé an trua ghear nach mise, nach mise

‘Sé an trua ghear nach mise bean Pháidín


‘Sé an trua ghear nach mise, nach mise

Is an bhean atá aige a bheith caillte.

Sé an trua ghear nach mise, nach mise
It’s my bitter sorrow that I am not, that I am not

‘Sé an trua ghear nach mise bean Pháidín
It’s my bitter sorrow that I am not the wife of Páidín

‘Sé an trua ghear nach mise, nach mise
It’s my bitter sorrow that I am not, that I am not

Is an bhean atá aige a bheith caillte.
And the wife he has is not dead.

It's the original "stalker song!"

At one point in the song, she's looking in the window at Páidí'ns wife and wishing broken legs on her.

Redwolf

OH MY GOSH, you guys are GREEEEAT!!!!!! Thanks so much...do you know the phonetic breakdown, how to pronounce the words phonetically????

You might like to know that Lasairfhíona Ní Chonaola sings a nice version of this song on her CD An Raicín Álainn. If you go to her website you can listen to part of it -
http://www.aransinger.com - Discography - Flash mp3 player. I heard it for the first time sung by Planxty (Cold blow and the windy night).

franc 91 wrote:You might like to know that Lasairfhíona Ní Chonaola sings a nice version of this song on her CD An Raicín Álainn. If you go to her website you can listen to part of it -
http://www.aransinger.com - Discography - Flash mp3 player. I heard it for the first time sung by Planxty (Cold blow and the windy night).

I love her rendition! She manages to sound totally psycho! You can just picture her spying through the window and plotting poor Paddy's wife's demise!

Redwolf

gee whiz, went to that site, her facebook page, couldn't find the song though, but thanks, I'll keep trying to figure this out...wish i wasn't such a brain dead old old woman, this is a very difficult language!!! No wonder no one at all in my family ever spoke Gaelic, it is beautiful, have always enjoyed listening to songs in Gaelic, even if I never knew what they were about, they were so, well, almost mystical and otherworldly sounding. Some day before I die, which is probably got to be in the next ten years, I have to get to IRELAND!!!!!! The farm my great great grandfather left is still there, up in Coalisland

bozie wrote:gee whiz, went to that site, her facebook page, couldn't find the song though, but thanks, I'll keep trying to figure this out...wish i wasn't such a brain dead old old woman, this is a very difficult language!!! No wonder no one at all in my family ever spoke Gaelic, it is beautiful, have always enjoyed listening to songs in Gaelic, even if I never knew what they were about, they were so, well, almost mystical and otherworldly sounding. Some day before I die, which is probably got to be in the next ten years, I have to get to IRELAND!!!!!! The farm my great great grandfather left is still there, up in Coalisland

Bean as Tír Eoghain. Béidh fáilte mór romhat nuair a baineann tú do bhaile amach

A Tyrone Lady. There will be a big welcome waiting for you when you get home.

Tír Eoghain Abú

Well if you can get hold of her CD, the lyrics and the translation are all there, or you can go to the Celtic Lyrics Corner:
http://www.celticlyricscorner.net/chonaola/bean.htm