Siún Ní Dhuibhir

Susan O'Dwyer
This is a traditional song from Donegal. In the video is a great cover by the band Mozaik. Mozaik are Ireland’s And more...

This is a traditional song from Donegal. In the video is a great cover by the band Mozaik.

Mozaik are Ireland’s Andy Irvine and Donal Lunny (both original members of Planxty), American born old-time musician Bruce Molsky, Dutch guitarist Rens Van Der Zalm, and Hungarian multi-instrumentalist Nikola Parov. Together they form the ultimate global stringband with a legendary lineage. It was on a lengthy drive through Australia that the great Irish singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Andy Irvine first envisioned Mozaik.

Singing in the video is Dónal Lunny. Lunny has been at the forefront of the evolution of Irish traditional music for more than thirty-five years and has participated within the renaissance of that genre during that period. Dónal Lunny has some claim to popularising the bouzouki in the Irish music sphere after its initial introduction by Johnny Moynihan. Lunny ordered a custom-built bouzouki from English luthier, Peter Abnett (who still makes instruments to this day), with a flat back instead of a traditional Greek rounded back. This made it more comfortable to play. In 1981 he went one step further by creating an electric bouzouki, though this failed to catch on.

Do you have any further information about this song? Edit this page and help us expand this section. ^close

Irish

English

I set out one morning for market
Buying and selling as my people did before me
I got thirsty on the way and sat down to drink
And with Susan O'Dwyer I drank the price of the boots

Susan O'Dwyer do you care if I'm ill?
Sorrow and ruin be upon me if I wish you to be in a graveyard
My grief and troubles rain down on you
But you can stay in Irras until the tribe of Eve comes to the fore

Susan O'Dwyer, you're the beginning and the end of my story
From the women of the world she took the prize
With brightness and fairness, goodness and almost perfect beauty
And I'm the sad case to leaving her tomorrow

My true love is over in Irras
The young sweet thing that refused to marry me yesterday
Tell her from me if I give her a kiss
That I would give her more if they'd send me a dowry with her

"Tell him from me for certain I won't marry him
For I heard that he wanted me with a dowry
Since I don't have wealth or much of a fortune
Let him have whoever he wishes and I'll be about my own business"

Can you provide a better translation?

Chords