Does anyone have the words to the hymn “Be thou my vision” in gaelic? And if possible, the english pronounciation for the song in gaelic.
Yes. Drop me an email and I’ll send you the lyrics. Máire Brennan does a B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L version of this hymn on her Whisper to the Wild Water CD. It makes a tear jerking air on the pipes too…
Brian~
Hmm, was this originally a Christian hymn or was it adapted? I seem to remember it was adapted.
Try this link to the Mudcat Cafe. Examine the “Related Threads”, not just the lyrics page.
I believe the original air is called “Slane.”
I’m going by memory here, though, and that doesn’t always work well for me.
Hopefully Walden will post: I believe he has researched this before in some detail.
–James
By the way, I like this tune, and the hymn, very much. Enough that I was once interviewed by a detective…and therein lies a bizarre tale, though one basically unrelated to this topic.
That is true.
A little following of links and here’s the one with the gaelic, though no phonetics. http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Zone/6338/soills.html
Yes, named for the hill where Saint Patrick lit the Easter pyre, in violation of a royal decree.
Hopefully Walden will post: I believe he has researched this before in some detail.
The words of the hymn were written by Dallan Forgaill, in the 8th Century A.D. The conventional English Version (“Be Thou my vision, O Lord of my heart”) was versified in 1912 by Eleanor Hull, and based upon a translation by Mary E. Byrne, which appeared in Eriú: Journal of the School of Irish Learning, in 1905.
I wish to also add that the first time I heard this hymn, I thought the tune the same as that of the Cherry Tree Carol, though it’s not. Not exactly.
There are alternate lyrics to the tune Slane-
Lord of all Hopefullness
We sing that one most often in our church rather than Be Thou My Vision