Hi folks…Im really hoping someone can help me with this…there is a great song in Irish called “Sadhbh Ni Bhruinneallaigh” that Im trying to find the words for, I would be eternally grateful if someone that has them could type them up in a reply or tell me where to get them if they know where. Its a great a tune…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFlHO3r9UBk , check it out at this URL if you like - with the great Liam O Maonlaoi singing, go raibh míle maith agat agus slán go foill
Its in Scottish Gaelic, not Irish. The "dhbh"spelling is a giveaway. The metre of the song is another giveaway. And if you needed another clue, the info on the clip says, “Highland Sessions.”
Sadhbh Ni Bhruinn Ealla
I was not able to find that song in the places I usually look for lyrics. The tune played after the song is known in the Irish tradition as, “Will You Come Home With Me?”.
djm
Thanks for the effort.
Last time I checked the name Sadbh had its origins in Ireland…and yes I am aware that the Highlands are in Scotland…I lived there for 2 years.There are many Irish artists on this programme as well as Scottish and Im pretty sure in the 2nd verse he mentions Gaillimh (Irish for Galway) on the west coast, hence I presumed it was an Irish tune.
It’s Irish. Here are information and lyrics as recorded by Peadar Ó Ceannabháin on his album “Mo Chuid den tSaol”, Track 4 (Cló Iar-Chonnachta CICD131):
http://www.grafxsource.com/MCS/Sampla_1.html
The album info is here:
http://tinyurl.com/ywte3a
It’s a Connemara song from Joe Heaney’s repertoire, who recorded it as a 78 RPM for Gael Linn in 1960:
http://www.irishmusicreview.com/discgael-linn.htm
This is the same recording of Heaney included on the Gael Linn compilation “Seoltaí Séidte”, Disc 2 Track 15 (Gael Linn CEFCD 184, 2004):
http://celticgrooves.homestead.com/CG_Various_Seoltai_Seidte.html
http://www.gael-linn.ie/GLinn/AlbumInfo.aspx?SKU=CEFCD184
And Sadhbh or Sive is certainly an Irish girl’s name. It was the 76th most popular girl’s name registered in Ireland in 2006:
http://www.cso.ie/releasespublications/documents/births_d_m/2006/babiesnames_2006.pdf
Cheers!
Nice finds, MTG. I don’t know why it didn’t come up for me anywhere, and I do have both the Ó Ceannabhin and Seoltaí Séidte albums. It’s the style of the performance, in Scottish waulking song format, that made me think it was Scottish (though many of the songs and tunes are shared in both traditions).
djm
I obviously have way too much free time …
You’re right, djm, at first I was turning up nothing, too. But once I found a couple of leads, the rest followed.
And the baby name list is a bonus. 
MtGuru - thanks a mill…you’re a legend!I dont know how you found it, I knew it was on the Seoltaí Séidte but I wasn’t finding any useful info. As for Sadbh…having a dbh in no way means its Scottish, sure I know plenty of Maedbh’s and Sadbh’s and Im in Ireland!
But the spelling is “Sadhbh”, not “Sadbh”, which is what I am familiar with in Irish spellings. The “dhbh” combination is more likely to appear in Scots Gaelic spelling than in Irish, and this is what led me astray (as opposed to the lish, young buy-a-broom).
djm
The program was called Highland sessions and was a mix of Scottish and Irish musicans playing songs from both countries. It’s STV (an independant Scottish TV channel) responding to the BBC’s brilliant Transatlantic Sessions 3.
I didn’t enjoy it nearly as much as Transatlantic, but anyway that’s the background and why some people were getting confused as to the origin of the song.
In all the rush and excitement, I realize we never did give you the lyrics you asked for, Stiofain. As with any folk song, there are multiple versions of the lyrics. Here is the Joseph Heaney version from Seoltaí Séidte:
SADHBH NÍ BHRUINNEALLAIGH
Ní iarrfain de spré le Sadhbh Ní Bhruinneallaigh
Ach baile Inis Gé is cead éaló ar choiníní.
Óró, a Shadhbh, a Shadhbh Ní Bhruinneallaigh,
Comhairle do mháithrín, éalaigh is imigh liom.
I wouldn’t ask for a dowry with Sadhbh Ní Bhruinneallaigh
But the townland of Inishkea and permission to hunt rabbits.
Óró Sadhbh, Sadhbh Ní Bhruinneallaigh,
The advice of your mother is to elope and go with me.
Is máistir báid mhóir mé ag dul ród na Gaillimhe,
D’fhliuchfainn naoi bhfód is ní thógfainn aon fharraige.
Óró, a Shadhbh, a Shadhbh Ní Bhruinneallaigh,
A chuisle is a stóirín, éalaigh is imigh liom.
I’m the master of a great boat that travels the sea to Galway,
I might wet nine sods but I wouldn’t ship water.
Óró, Sadhbh, Sadhbh Ní Bhruinneallaigh,
My love and my darling, elope and go with me.
Máistir báid mhóir go deo ní ghlacfaidh mé,
Nuair a fhaigheann siad an chóir is dóigh nach bhfanann siad.
Óró, a Shadhbh, a Shadhbh Ní Bhruinneallaigh,
Comhairle do mháithrín, éalaigh is imigh liom.
The master of a great boat I’d never accept,
For when they get a favourable wind it’s likely they won’t stay.
Óró, Sadhbh, Sadhbh Ní Bhruinneallaigh,
The advice of your mother is to elope and go with me.
Is máistir báid mhóir go deo ni ghlacfaidh mé,
Nuair a fhaigheann siad an chóir is dóigh nach bhfanann siad.
Óró, a Shadhbh, a Shadhbh Ní Bhruinneallaigh,
A chuisle is a stóirín, éalaigh is imigh liom.
The master of a great boat I’d never accept,
For when they get a favourable wind it’s likely they won’t stay.
Óró, Sadhbh, Sadhbh Ní Bhruinneallaigh,
My love and my darling, elope and go with me.
Níl folach a cabhaile ar Shadhbh Ní Bhruinneallaigh
Ach sean-chóitín donn gan chabhail gan mhuinchille.
Óró, a Shadhbh, a Shadhbh Ní Bhruinneallaigh,
A chuisle is a stóirín, éalaigh is imigh liom.
Sadhbh Ní Bhruinneallaigh doesn’t have what would cover her body,
But a little brown coat without body or sleeve.
Óró, Sadhbh, Sadhbh Ní Bhruinneallaigh,
My love and my darling, elope and go with me.
Fear maith i mbád mé is togha fear iomartha,
Fear sluasaid is lái ar dha cheann an iomaire.
Óró, a Shadhbh, a Shadhbh Ní Bhruinneallaigh,
A chuisle is a stóirín, éalaigh is imigh liom.
I’m a good man in a boat and a great man to row,
I’m a good man with a spade and a loy on the two sides of the drill.
Óró, Sadhbh, Sadhbh Ní Bhruinneallaigh,
My love and my darling, elope and go with me.
A light humourous song attributed to Labhrás Mac Con Raoi from Mace Head, Co. Mayo, a boatman who ranged the coasts of Mayo and Galway. He is said to have composed it between 1815 and 1821, and the woman in the song is said to have been from Inishkea, Co. Mayo. It is often called “Sadhbh Ní Mhuinghile.”
djm
It pays to remember that Scottish Gaelic emerged from early modern Irish. Before the Irish spelling reforms in the 1950s, the differences were much less marked (and, in fact, Ulster Irish still has more in common with Gàidhlig than not). It’s still not unusual to see words that ‘could’ be either Gàidhlig or Gaeilge. The one sure marker is the accents…in Irish, they always point to the right, whereas in Scottish Gàidhlig, they always point to the left.
Redwolf
Ah, what a song…I really like this one. Great video, too. I think I like it better than the recording that’s on “Rian.”
I watched Liam O’ Maonlaí performing this in Waterville last October and he described it as a Connemara song. He accompanied himself on bodhrán as he sang. It was absolutely brilliant, his recording of this on Rian doesn’t do his abilities justice.
The same song sung without all the background cufuffle.
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=CAbF69ljNeM
Mukade
I believe it’s a Mayo song. It mentions Iniskea (Inis Gé), and appears on a compilation of Mayo songs (which I saw today in a shop, but the name of which I cannot remember).
I watched hooker raceing on tg4 the other day. Lovely little boats. They look like majestic birds under full sail. They said some of them are 100 yrs old and used to take peat to the Aran Islands.
I have been learning this song for a while and it felt Scottish to me. I thought it might be a Scottish sailor in love with an Irish girl. It happened often. But now it seems it’s a boatmen’s song. But the verse about handling shovel, spade, and drill makes more sense if he is cutting peat and then transporting it. Nice little business that. Like being in oil in it’s day.