A Bhean Udaí Thall
That Woman YonderThis is a traditional Irish and Scottish song arranged by Altan. It appears on Atlan’s first studio album Horse With A Heart, released in May 1989.
Comment from Áine Cooke:
Do you have any further information about this song? Edit this page and help us expand this section. ^closeThe following lyrics are taken from the singing of Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh, who got the song from the late Neilí Ní Dhomhnaill of Rann na Feirste, Co. Donegal. The song is sung in both Ireland and Scotland and there are many versions of the words and the tune. This version is in the form of the call and answer song typical of many older traditional songs in County Donegal. The Girl/An Cailín lures The Wife/An Bhean out to the strand, binds her by the hair to a rock, and drowns her and the children in order to get the husband for herself. The Wife pleads for mercy and is refused by The Girl. When The Wife sees there is no pity at all in the other woman, she brings down a curse upon her.
[a shí ógó / a shíogó] These two terms when spoken or sung sound very much alike. The poet uses a very subtle play on words and increases the irony and emotion of the song with these two terms. The term “Sí óg”, used by the Wife in the song in addressing the Girl, can be translated to mean a young fairy, or more applicable to this situation, a young deceiver. “Síog” or “Síogán”, the term used by the Girl to insult the dying Wife, is a rope-bound stack of grain, referring to her state of being bound by her hair to the rock.
Irish
English
This is my grave, a shí ógó
Trapped in the channel, oh no
My white grave beneath the foaming strand
As I'm drowning in Baile Leóil
Oh woman yonder, a shí ógó
Who is walking on the strand, oh no
Have you no pity for a woman in her watery grave
Who is drowning in Baile Leóil
You're not my relation, a shíogó
Nor my friend, oh no
The time has come, hasn't it, in the watery grave
That I took you to swim in Baile Leóil
My father shall come, a shí ógó
Down to the strand, oh no
And find my soft
bloated body
Drowning in Baile Leóil
Your father shan't come, a shíogó
Down to the strand, oh no
Nor shall I come myself 'til break of day
To free you in Baile Leóil
Oh I have a babe, a shí ógó
Who is fifteen months old, oh no
And another babe will be in his watery grave
Who is three months old in Baile Leóil
Oh you have a babe, a shíogó
Who is fifteen months old, oh no
And I will have a babe from this watery grave
Who will be the master in Baile Leóil
Take my blessing, a shí ógó
Back to my mother, oh no
And my second blessing from a watery grave
To the father of my children in Baile Leóil
You would not take my blessing, a shí ógó
Back to my mother, oh no
You shall take my curse from a watery grave
And from the father of my children in Baile Leóil
There's fortune in store
For the young woman, a shí ógó
Who will take my place, oh no
And will have pure white cattle
From a watery grave
And windows of glass in Baile Leóil
I am the young woman, a shíogó
Who will take your place, oh no
And will have pure white cattle
From a watery grave
And windows of glass in Baile Leóil