This is a children’s song written by The Cassidys (Na Casaidigh), sung from the perspective of a loving mother whose son is starting school. It is often learned by schoolchildren in Ireland. Na Casaidigh are an Irish traditional group from Gweedore, County Donegal, based in Dublin. The group consists of brothers Aongus, Seathrún, Ciarán, Fionntán, Feargus, and Odhrán. Irish is their native tongue and they had to study English as a second language during their school years, which allows Na Casaidigh to alternate easily between both languages in their songs.

The following is an excerpt from an article by Deirdre Falvey, the Irish Times, 1997: The repetitive songs of childhood hold a resonance beyond their simplicity, conjuring up memories of times which seemed to be always sunny, more straightforward, more truthful. A lot of that is rose-tinted rubbish, of course – and tricks of the mind – but the comfort of the familiar and the past is not to be underestimated.

Many of us have fond memories of learning those songs – and Oró Sé Do Bheatha ‘bhaile, Trasna Na dTonnta, Báidín Fheilimí, Bheir Mí Ó – in school and in the Gaeltacht summer colleges. In the Gaeltacht they had a book, Cas Amhran – green, hardback, well-used – which grouped them together and formalised them. We learned them in classes in the morning, swam in the afternoon and danced at ceilithe in the evening. All very well regimented and monitored by an maistir, of course. But they are positive memories.