Is Fada Liom Uaim Í (Molly na gCuach Ní Chuilleanáin)

Cad tá uait?  What do you want?  Cad tá ag teastáil uait?  What do you need?  (Cad tá ort - what's wrong with you?!)  Airím uaim mo chairde - I miss my friends.  Is fada liom uaim í - I miss her a lot (despite what you see in the usual transations - see fada)

The song is in the Ulster dialect. Cha dtéim is Ulster Irish for ní théim (I don't go) (cha = ní, chan = níl).

There are some conditionals, and a past habitual, so the grammar isn't totally for beginners.  But the chorus is pretty easy:

Is fada liom uaim í, uaim í  (I miss her, miss her a lot)
Is fada liom uaim í ó d'imigh sí  (I miss her since she went away)
Is fada liom thíos agus thuas í (I miss her below and above (everywhere))
Molly na gcuach Ní Chuilleanáin  (Molly of the curls Cullinane)

As usual, there are lots of very different versions of this song.  A popular one is Altan's, although it's hard to get her lyrics a lot of the time.  Danú did a nice more traditional rendition.  There are more!  There's even a crazy parody version...#12...

I Lár an Aonaigh - In the Centre of the Fair

 Aonach, an t-aonach, lár an aonaigh.  Useful word, with some good songs!

One is kind of a kids' song, but everybody knows and likes it:

Beidh Aonach Amárach

Here's a traditional rendition by Joe Heaney.  And here's a very different version by Altan. And this is the more common melody, by John Spillane.

As always, there are many versions of this.  Here are the lyrics (although there are some variations of course, and this has verses that not everyone does).  If you search on that website, you can find a dozen versions from different artists.  A nice thing about this song is that there is a lot of repetition, so it gets things in your head.

A few notes:  Gréasaí bróg is a cobbler of shoes.  Cé mhaith dom é = cén mhaith dom é, what good is it to me.

Another song which mentions a fair is a great drunken song:

Cad é Sin don Té Sin nach mBaineann Sin dó?

Which means, what is that to someone it has nothing to do with - in other words, if I want to drink away all my money, and waste my life, what's it your business?!

Here are the lyrics.  Another well known song, with lots of versions...

Here's Altan.  And here's Maighréad agus Trína Ní Dhónaill.  She mentions doing it many years ago with Skara Brae.  There are many more!

Note:  chun is a preposition that takes the genitive case afterwards, so "chun aonaigh" means to the fair.

First verse:  Chuaigh mé 'un aonaigh is dhíol mé mo bhó (I went to the fair and sold my cow)
Ar chúig phunta airgid is ar ghiní bhuí óir (for five pounds of money/silver and a gold yellow guini)
Má ólaim an t-airgead 's má bhronnaim an t-ór (If I drink the money and give away the gold)
Ó cad é sin don té sin nach mbaineann sin dó? (what business is that to anyone else)

Leabhair a Luadh - Books which were mentioned

 Seo na leabhair a mhol mé sa samhradh - Here are the books I recommended in the Summer.