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Can duh Dilish

TYPE3 - Complex Melody
TOPICLove
TUNE STRUCTUREA8 B18
VERSE STRUCTURE2v 4l + 4l ch.
TIME SIGNATURE 64
KEY SIGNATURE♭
TONAL CENTRED
INCIPITGB♭CD'E♭'F'E♭'D'CB♭GE♭'
GENREAmhrán Mór
TEXT SOURCERoyal Irish Academy MS 23 A 1: 76
TUNE SOURCEA Collection of the Most Celebrated Irish Tunes (Dublin: John and William Neal, 1724), p.16
FIRST LINETá mná an bhaille so air buille is air buaidhreadh
NOTATED INCIPIT
The melody of this love song is found in three earlier London-printed sources (1711, 1713 & 1719-20), twice appearing as an ‘Irish Round’. That the song was well-known in Ireland in the early eighteenth century is demonstrated in a reference to ‘Black Headed Deary’ in the Dublin circle of Sean Ó Neachtain. For this, and other details on the song, see Nicholas Carolan’s modern edition of the Celebrated Irish Tunes (1986; 2010 revised ed.), p.93.
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Cean Dubh DílisTá mná an bhaille so air buille is air buaidhreadh,‘Tarraing a ngruaige is dá leigion le gaoith;Ní ghlacfaidh siad sgafaire do fhearra na tuaithe,Go dé siad sa ruaig le buachailligh an Ríogh.

Cean dubh dílis dílis, dílis,Cean dubh dílis, druid liom anall;Cean dubh is gille ná ‘n alla is ná ‘n faolán,Is duine gan chraoidhe nach dtiubhradh dhuit grádh.

‘Ógánaigh uasail, uasail, uasail,Gheibhfidh tú duais is fuirrigh go lá;Gheibhfidh tú sguibeol is urlár na buailte,Agus cead a bheith shuas go n-éireochadh an lá.

Cean dubh dílis, dílis, dílis,Cean dubh dílis, druid liom anall;Cean dubh is gille ná ‘n alla is ná ‘n faolán,Is duine gan chraoidhe nach dtiubhradh dhuit grádh.
  • RIA 23 A 1: 76 (See Nicholas Carolan 2010, pp.93-4)

    •
    Dear Dark Head.

    The women of this place are angry and upset, Tearing their hair and letting it go with the wind; They won’t take a spirited young man from among the men of this countryside, But are going crazy with the boys of the King. Dear, dear, dear dark head, Dear dark head, come over here to me; Dear dark head who is brighter than the swan and the seagull, it is a heartless person who would not love you. Noble, noble, noble young man, You will get a reward if you stay until dawn; You will get a barn and a threshing floor, And leave to be up until the day dawns. Dear, dear, dear dark head, etc.

    Translation from Nicholas Carolan (2010), p.94.