This is a traditional Irish song arranged by Ciarán Brennan. It appears on Clannad‘s third studio album Dúlamán released in 1976. See also two other versions by Anúna and Altan.

Dúlamán is Irish for “channelled wrack”, a type of edible seaweed. The text of the song relates to the Irish practice of gathering seaweed for various purposes, dating from lean times when seaweed was valuable as a defence against famine.

Comment from Philippa

The mother telling the daughter that the men are coming and the girl wanting to look like she’s good housewife material, i.e., showing them she can spin.In the second verse, the mother and daughter are talking about how unattractive the fellow is (the dulaman gaelach); however, in the third and fourth verse they’ve decided that he looks like he could afford to spend some money on them, as he can dress himself fairly well. In the fifth verse, the fellow promises the girl a present as an enticement to marriage. However, in the sixth verse the girl’s daddy (who is also a ‘dulaman gaelach’ – the names change in this verse) demands to know the fellow’s (the ‘dulaman maorach’ now) intentions; and, the daddy declares in the last verse that he’ll not let the fellow take his daughter away. However, the upstart says that he’ll just kidnap her!

Note by Tim Eagen

In Ireland certain men made their livings by collecting and selling different types of seaweed, and were frequently nicknamed for the particular types in which they dealt. Dúlamán Gaelach is a seaweed used in dying cloth, while dúlamán maorach is an edible variety. The song is a conversation between two seaweed collectors. Dúlamán Gaelach has a beautiful daughter whom Dúlamán Maorach wishes to marry. Gaelach is not exactly thrilled with the idea of having Maorach as a son-in-law, but Maorach elopes with his daughter anyway.