Wednesday, October 21, 2020

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...

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