Catty Magee
| TYPE | 3 - Complex Melody |
| TOPIC | Love |
| TUNE STRUCTURE | 20 bars |
| VERSE STRUCTURE | 4v 4l |
| TIME SIGNATURE | 34 |
| KEY SIGNATURE | ♭ |
| TONAL CENTRE | C |
| INCIPIT | GAC,GEGAACGAG |
| GENRE | Amhrán Mór |
| TEXT SOURCE | Royal Irish Academy RIA MS 23 A 1:30 |
| TUNE SOURCE | A Collection of the Most Celebrated Irish Tunes (Dublin: John and William Neal, 1724), p.15 |
| FIRST LINE | A Chitidh na gcuach, an truagh leat mise 'bheith tinn |
| NOTATED INCIPIT | |
| Relatively little is known of this song. Nicholas Carolan suggest as song text the love-song ‘Cití Ní ’ac Aodha’ (Kitty Magee / McHugh). See Nicholas Carolan, ed. A Selection of the Most Celebrated Irish Tunes (Dublin, 2010; revised ed.), p.93. | |
‘Cití Ní ‘ac Aodha’ (Kitty Magee or McHugh)A Chitidh na gcuach, an truagh leat mise ‘bheith tinn, Is nuair ‘chluinim thú do d’ luagh go ngluaisean allas mo chuim?Tuitean mo ghruaig ionna duala ó mhullaigh allas mo chinn,Is déantar dham uaigh an uair úd a sgarfus tú liom.Is fada mé féin aig déanamh leanna sa gcoill,Níorbh furus dam é is gan aon ghráine bracha agam ann;Diulúr na gcraobh is iad ‘déanamh fasga os mo chionn,Agas seacht m’anam déag thú ‘féuchaint orm anall.‘Chitidh bhig bhán, tabhair spás dam go dtigfidh an Fhéoil’ Eoin,Is go bhfuil na daoine dá rádh gur air mo lámh ‘bhéas tú go foil;A chúilín triopalach fáineach scáinteach fite mar ór,Is go bhfuil an Reighleach dá rádh gur tú a ghrádh má lennan tú dhó.Tabhair leitir uaim sgríobhta síos go tígh Calbhuadhach Uadh Néil,Is ion a’ tsagairt Uadh Chaoi, fear a’ chraoidhe, ‘s é ‘chreiteadh mo sgéulGo bhfuil mé ‘mo luighe re mí air leabaigh aig an éag,Is Citidh Nuí Caoi le gach aon mar dagair sí féin.RIA MS 23 A 1: 30 (Suggested in Nicholas Carolan, 2010, p.93)
Kitty Magee.Kitty of the ringlets, are you sorry that I am sick, And that when I hear mention of you the sweat starts out on my body? My hair is falling in locks from the top of my head, And let my grave be made at the very moment you part from me. It is long that I have been making ale in the wood, it wasn’t easy for me and I without any grains of hops; The foliage of the branches was providing the shelter over my head, And it was delightful to me that you were looking across at me. Little fair-haired Kitty, give me a reprieve until the feast of St John, And the people are saying that you will be on my hand yet; O girl with the branchy ringletted loose hair woven like gold, Reilly is saying that you will be his love if you stay with him. Give me a letter written down to Calbach O’Neill, And to the priest Magee – the generous man – it is he who will believe my story That I am lying for a month now on my deathbed, And that Kitty Magee is off with anyone she chooses.(Translation in Nicholas Carolan, 2010, p.93)