An táilliúir aerach - Mánus Ó Creag


Recording: [Download audio file] [Download AIFF audio file (of processed ‘user’ version)] [Download AIFF audio file (of archive version)]

Transcript

Ó, táilliúir aerach mé a thug spéis do ghreann,
Go ndéanfainn súgradh le mo rúin ar faill,
Níl baile cuain ar bith dá ngluaisfinn ann
Nach bhfaighinn maighdean óg dheas ar bhuidéal leann.

Tá an oíche seo dorcha agus beidh go lá,
Chaill mé mo mhuirnín 's níl dul a'm[1] a fáil,
Ó, chuartaigh mé (an t-ísleacht is cúl an aird),
Nach í an neoinín álainn í atá doiligh a fháil.

Translation

Oh, I am a light-hearted tailor with an interest in fun,
I would flirt with my darling when I had the chance,
There isn't a coastal town I would visit
Where I would not get nice young maiden for a bottle of ale.

This night is dark and will be till day,
I have lost my darling and I cannot find her,
Oh, I searched the lowlands and the back of the hill (?),
Isn't she the beautiful daisy who can't be found.

Footnotes

= agam. Cf. Heinrich Wagner, Gaeilge Theilinn (Dublin, 1959; repr. 1979), § 122. (Back)

Commentary

'An Táilliúir Aerach' is one of many songs that relate the often mischievous life of tailors in Ireland. According to Dónal O'Sullivan, 'the countryman bought his hand-woven cloth in suit-lengths at the fair and kept it at his home against the arrival of the journeyman-tailor, who made the suit on the spot and lived with his customer until it was finished. Hence he was engaged indoors while the man of the house was at work in the fields, the smithy or elsewhere. In the circumstances, the tailor's opportunities for dalliance must have been considerable' (Dónal O'Sullivan, Songs of the Irish (Dublin, 1960), 40). In this little-known song, the tailor tells of his flighty ways, indulging in drinking and courting women. It is closely related to the last two verses of 'Tiocfaidh an samhradh (part 1)' which can be found elsewhere in the Doegen collection. It is not to be confused with a very well-known song also entitled 'An Táilliúir Aerach' (sometimes known as 'Amhrán an Ghabha'/'The Smith's Song'), which has a very distinctive chorus suggestive of the blacksmith's striking anvil: Ding dong didilium, buail sin, séid seo ... D’imigh mo bhean leis an táilliúir aerach. For examples of this see: Fionán Mac Coluim, Amhráin na nGleann: cuid a haon (Dublin, 1939), 62-3; Dónal O'Sullivan, The songs of the Irish, 39-40; Mánus Ó Baoill, 'An Táilliúr Aerach', Ceolta Gael 2 (Cork, 1986), 91-2; and David Cooper (ed.), The Petrie collection of the ancient music of Ireland (Cork, 2002), 195-200. A further song entitled 'An Tailliúir Aerach', said to have been composed by Conchubhar Máistir Ó Ríoghbhardáin, Clondrohid, county Cork (c.1770-1840), was published in The Journal of the Irish Folk Song Society 21 (1924), 9-11. Finally, the song 'Bean an Fhir Rua' ('The red-haired man's wife') is yet another example of a song which tells of the story of a tailor longing after the wife of another man.

Title in English: The merry tailor
Digital version published by: Doegen Records Web Project, Royal Irish Academy

Description of the Recording:

Speaker: Mánus Ó Creag from Co. Donegal
Person who made the recording: Karl Tempel
Organizer and administrator of the recording scheme: The Royal Irish Academy
In collaboration with: Lautabteilung, Preußische Staatsbibliothek (now Lautarchiv, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin)
Recorded on 03-10-1931 at 15:40:00 in Courthouse, Letterkenny. Recorded on 03-10-1931 at 15:40:00 in Courthouse, Letterkenny.
Archive recording (ID LA_1263d2, from a shellac disk stored at the Royal Irish Academy) is 01:10 minutes long. Archive recording (ID LA_1263d2, from a shellac disk stored at the Royal Irish Academy) is 01:10 minutes long.
Second archive recording (ID LA_1263b2, from a shellac disc stored in Belfast) is 01:10 minutes long. Second archive recording (ID LA_1263b2, from a shellac disc stored in Belfast) is 01:10 minutes long.
User recording (ID LA_1263d2, from a shellac disk stored at the Royal Irish Academy) is 01:08 minutes long. User recording (ID LA_1263d2, from a shellac disk stored at the Royal Irish Academy) is 01:08 minutes long.