Bean Pháidín

Páidín's Wife
This traditional Irish sean nós song is from the Connemara region in the west of Ireland. It's about a jelous woman who more...

This traditional Irish sean nós song is from the Connemara region in the west of Ireland. It’s about a jelous woman who longs to be Páidín’s wife. Below are the lyrics, translation and chords for the version by sean-nós singer Lasairfhíona Ní Chonaola.

Lasairfhíona is an Irish singer/songwriter and a native Irish speaker from the Aran Islands. She is deeply rooted in the sean-nós singing style of her home on Inis Oírr. She has made quite an impression on the folk and world music scene in recent years. Lasairfhíona’s new slant on traditional singing makes her endeavors very appealing, culminating in a magical mosaic of sound, as refreshing and as unpredictable as a showery day inside in Aran. She is a native Irish speaker and learnt many original songs from her family, thus continuing the rich singing tradition of the Aran Islands.

Described by fRoots magazine as “one of the most sumptuous traditional albums to have emerged for sometime,” Lasairfhíona’s debut album An Raicín Álainn (pronounced An Rackeen Ah-lyn), launched in 2002 at the Festival Interceltique in Lorient, Brittany, generated a very favourable response in Ireland and abroad. Appropriately called Flame of Wine, a literal translation of her name, her second solo album was released in 2005 and was also well received; tracks from Flame of Wine were used on the award winning BBC programme Coast. Lasairfhíona has toured widely in Ireland, Europe and the USA.

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Irish

English

Chorus:
It's a great pity that I'm not, that I'm not
It's a great pity that I'm not Páidín's wife
It's a great pity that I'm not, that I'm not
And the woman that he has to be dead

I would go to Galway, to Galway
And I would go to Galway with Páidín
I would go to Galway, to Galway
And I would return in the boat with him

(Chorus)

I would go to an Clochán
And west by Béal Á' na Báighe
I would look in through the windows
I would spot Páidín's wife

(Chorus)

May your legs be broken, be broken
May your legs be broken, Páidín's wife
May your legs be broken, be broken
May your legs and your bones be broken

(Chorus)

I wore out my shoes, my shoes
I wore out my shoes, after Páidín
I wore out my shoes, my shoes
I wore out the soles and the heels

Can you provide a better translation?

Chords