A selection of MP3 files of Seoirse's music through the years. All for free!
Seoirse: A Voice Alone ~ Love Songs & Songs of Friendship in the Time of Covid
Will You Love Me Tomorrow
Composed by Goffin, King
Composed: 1971
Seoirse & guitar
Download mp3 for freeI suppose the story begins in 1927 – well, actually, that date probably marks the end of the song’s era because the rich Gaelic traditions of South Armagh were slipping away by then. Máire Bean Uí Arbhasaigh sang it then for An tAth. Réamonn Ó Muireadhaigh and he jotted down the words and melody. I believe he made a phonographic recording as well.
I picked up a copy of Ó Muireadhaigh’s old book in Temple’s Book Shop in Dundalk in the early 1970s. The book was called “Amhráin Chúige Uladh” with traditional Irish tunes written in tonic sol-fa notation. I was unable to read the notes of the Dúlamán song properly – the time signature in particular – so I interpreted it as I thought it should have sounded. The correct dotted rhythm would have made it a kind of Scottish strathspey rhythm but I gave it a straight 4/4 by mistake. The mistake was passed on to Clannad – who were very excited by the song’s possibilities – then, through listening to Clannad, to Dónal Lunny, then to Anúna and then to a whole host of other bands including a techno outfit called Lovely Thunder who gave it the real disco treatment. They all copied my mistake! But I think the error lead to a more interesting tune.
Dúlamán
The story begins with me on Carrickfin Beach with the old book on my lap trying to pick out the melody on my guitar. My companion is not pleased.
“Stop! Stop! For Christ’s sake! That tune is doing my head in!”
But I kept tinkering with it.
“Actually, I think I’m on to something here… give me a minute… please.”
Composed by Anon
Composed: 2075 BC
Seoirse Ó Dochartaigh, guitar
Download mp3 for free
Dúlamán na Binne Buí, Dúlamán Gaelach
Dúlamán na Binne Buí, Dúlamán Gaelach
A níon mhin ó sin anall na fir shuirí
A mháthair mhín ó cuir mo roithleán go dtí mé.
Tá ceann buí óir ar an dúlamán Gaelach
Tá dhá chluais mhaol’ ar an Dúlamán Gaelach
Rachaimid ‘un an Iúir leis an Dúlamán Gaelach
Ceannóidh mise bróga daora ar an Dúlamán Gaelach
Bróga breaca dubha ar an Dúlamán Gaelach
Tá bairéad agus triús ar an Dúlamán Gaelach
Ó chuir mé scéala chuici go gceannóinn coir di
Is é an scéala a chuir sí chugam go raibh a ceann cíortha
“Cad é thug tú ‘n na tire?” arsa an Dúlamán Gaelach
“Ag suirí le do níon” arsa an Dúlamán Gaelach
“Chan fhaigheann tú mo níon” arsa an Dúlamán Gaelach
“Bhuel fuadóidh mé í liom,” arsa an Dúlamán Gaelach
Dúlamán na Binne Buí, Dúlamán a’ tSléibhe
Dúlamán na Farraige is Dúlamán a Déididh
Sometime over the following weekend in our lodgings, Cathal Póirtéir (now in RTÉ), who was working with me at Coláiste Bhríde, Rann na Feirste at the time, showed a great interest in the song. He got his bodhrán out immediately and we played around with it for a while.
“Right!” said Cathal, “Let’s go down to Leo’s Tavern with this!”
I don’t have the cassette of the original session with Cathal but I have this one recorded years later in Cologne with Damien Quinn. His bodhrán solo here was once described as the first ever bodhrán concerto . Who am I to argue with that?
Composed by Trad. Arr by Seoirse Ó Dochartaigh
Composed: 1975
Seoirse Ó Dochartaigh, vocals & guitar,
Damien Quinn, bodhrán.
(Horned Wrack fucus cernanoides)
Seoirse’s translation
Sweet daughter O! Here comes the courting men!
Dear little mother, toss my spinning-wheel to me!
Chorus:
Yellow-Horned Seaweed, Irish Seaweed,
Yellow-Horned Seaweed, Irish Seaweed.
1
Irish Seaweed has a yellow head of gold;
Edible Seaweed has two blunt ears.
2
Irish Seaweed wears a beret and a trouser;
Edible Seaweed wears black speckled shoes.
3
O, we’ll go off to Newry with Irish Seaweed;
I’ll buy expensive shoes for Irish Seaweed.
4
I sent her a message that I would buy her a comb.
The message she sent me back was that her hair was already combed.
5
“What brought you to this country?” asks Irish Seaweed.
“Courting with your daughter,” says Edible Seaweed.
6
“Well, you won’t get my daughter,” says Irish Seaweed.
“Well, indeed, I’ll force her with me”, says Edible Seaweed.
7
Yellow-Horned Seaweed, Seaweed of the Mountain,
Seaweed of the Ocean, Seaweed of the Teeth.
Chorus:
Yellow-Horned Seaweed, Irish Seaweed,
Yellow-Horned Seaweed Irish Seaweed.
NOTE: It’s difficult to determine if the descriptions of the seaweed refer to the
product itself or the men who are selling it. “Dúlamán Maorach” could be the
nickname of the man selling the edible variety. “Dúlamán an Déidí” is understood
to be a seaweed for curing toothaches. Other kinds of Dúlamán were used for dying
clothes and fertilizing the soil. Valuable stuff in those days!
I didn’t know Clannad personally before 1976 but knew and liked their music. Cathal Póirtéir knew them. As we sang it on the little stage in Leo’s that night, four heads appeared from the door of the side room. It was Clannad. They loved the song.
For a week or two afterwards notes were sent up to Coláiste Bhríde along the lines of “When’s Seoirse coming down again? We want to hear that song.” They needed a big production track to open their new album. “Dúamán” was a good candidate. I gave it to them of course.
They were so taken by it that they called their album Dúlamán. The group was photographed on the shore for the LP cover with a round table set for dinner – dúlamán seaweed, of course! The candlestick sported three candles indicating that this was their third album. Very cool indeed.
The rest is history.
But does everyone know the real history?
Composed by Trad. Arr Clannad
Composed: 1976
Clannad
Download mp3 for freeI understand this was a commission from Telecom Éireann. Although I have a profile, of sorts, as an Irish musician with a fairly substantial catalogue of recordings, I hardly know anyone in Dónal Lunny’s band “Coolfin and Friends” ….except one of the singers: Aoife Carbin whom I used to teach. I don’t think Aoife was with them for very long and when she was in the studio singing this song I’m sure she didn’t know that her old art teacher was the original Dúlamán man!
I had met Dónal a couple of times because Gael-Linn had asked him to produce my first album, Slán agus Beannacht, but I went for another deal entirely and didn’t meet up with him again. This lively and highly entertaining take on my old song has Dónal’s fingerprints all over it. He is an excellent producer and arranger. Among the “Friends” here is the well-known sean-nós singer Tomás Mac Eoin who had also worked with the Waterboys.
Composed by Trad Arr Dónal Lunny
Composed: 1996
Dónal Lunny, Coolfin & Friends,
Aoife Carbin, soloist.
I believe I heard Mr. McGlynn once describing this setting as “pastiche”. However, it is a very skillful vocal
arrangement and very tightly performed. And it comes with a newly-composed chorus! Wonderful piece! His unique way with voices here has spawned a whole host of imitators. Surf the internet sometime and you’ll see what I mean.
Composed by Trad., Arr Michael McGlynn
Composed: 1995
Anúna
Director Michael McGlynn
Dúlamán na binne buí
Dúlamán na binne buí Gaelach
Dúlamán na binne buí …
I tried in vain to track down this band called “Lovely Thunder”. Rónán Mac Aoidh Bhuí played this track on his radio show in the 1990s when he was presenting programmes in the Dublin studios of RTÉ. I managed to capture it on cassette (hence the hiss). The band may have called it something else but it is definitely my collected/discovered version from 1975. Another ambient band did something similar – Hyper (Borea), an Irish outfit fronted by the vivacious Una O’Boyle.
Composed by Trad. original adapted by Seoirse Ó Dochartaigh
Composed: 1990s?
Lovely Thunder?
Download mp3 for freeI had heard about An Píobaire Mór from West Donegal. This was Tarlach Mac Suibhne who was supposed to have played variations on “Dúlamán na Binne Buí” on the uilleann pipes at the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893. At a session in Hiúdaí Beag’s in Gweedore one evening I asked the late Francie Mooney (Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh’s father) if he could play that tune on the fiddle. He hesitated and then came up with what sounded like a song-air – no variations, though. I told him that the fiddle maestro of the Rosses, Néillidh Boyle, used to play the variations in the 1930s. Francie said he was unaware of this and had never heard them played anywhere.
Mary Bergin, the doyenne of the tin-whistle, has recorded these variations on a CD. Where she got them from I don’t know – maybe from an old 78rpm of Néillidh’s who made studio recordings while in America. Behind these variations a song lay hidden. Was it the same song as Máire Bean Uí Arbhasaigh’s?
Mary threw in a snatch of “The Shaskeen Reel” into the mix for good measure (or was that Néillidh Boyle’s idea?).
The mystery is now solved, having now (2020) found that I already owed the box-set of Néillidh’ complete recordings (I hadn’t got round to listening to them yet). This was released in 2010. I can see now where Mary got the idea. On the first disc are selections of short pieces one of which is “Dúlamán na Binne Buí”// highland (42 seconds’ worth) and further on is another fragment called “Óró a Stór a Ghrá” // highland (43 seconds’ worth) which is similar to the aforementioned “Shaskeen Reel” but also a perfect companion piece to the “Dúlamán” tune. The first tune segues seamlessly into the other. If that isn’t what Tarlach Mac Suibhne played in 1893, I don’t know what else could be. These fragments were recorded by Seamus Ennis in 1945. Well done Mary Bergin!
Composed by Trad., Arr Mary Bergin
Composed: 1992
Mary Bergin, tin-whistle,
Alec Finn, bouzouki,
Johnny McDonagh, bodhrán,
Johnny Campbell, bass guitar.
"Mary Begin - feadóga stáin" (Gael-Linn, 1992))
Another version of the song, with melody (sort of) composed by me this time, appears on my Dúlamán a’ tSléibhe album. My band at the time was also called Dúlamán and we were toying with the idea of calling the new song “Dúlamán – The Revenge” – but settled in the end for the more poetically alliterative “Dúlamán na Binne Buí”.
Mary Bergin, the doyenne of the tin-whistle, has recorded “Dúlamán na Binne Buí” variations on a CD. Behind these variations a song lies hidden. Was it the same song as Máire Bean Uí Arbhasaigh’s?
To fit words to an instrumental rendering proved a very daunting task. In the end, I had to tweak a new melody out of it.
I have kept to the theme of coats, hats, leggings and footwear in my editing of the verses – just to give the song a stronger focus. The Dúlamán men, remember, were deadly dressers; they were the “spivs” and travelling salesmen of old, arriving in town in great colour and splendour, charming all the women and selling their seaweed to all and sundry. Not every mother would have approved, of course.
Composed by Trad. arranged and adapted by Seoirse Ó Dochartaigh
Composed: 2002
Seoirse Ó Dochartaigh, lead vocals, harmony vocals, guitar.
Aodh Mac Ruairí, lead vocals, harmony vocals,
Heather Innes, vocal harmonies,
Mike Cosgrave, keyboards, piano accordion.
A ‘níon mhín ó, sin anall na fir shuirí !
A mháthair mhín ó, cuir mo roithleán go dtí mé !
Curfá:
Dúlamán na Binne Buí, Dúlamán-a-Gaelach,
Dúlamán na Binne Buí, Dúlamán-a-Gaelach
Dúlamán na Binne Buí, Dúlamán-a-Gaelach,
Dúlamán na Binne Buí, Dúlamán-a-Gaelach,
Tá ceann buí óir ar a’ Dúlamán Gaelach;
Tá dhá chluais mhaola ar a’ Dúlamán Gaelach
Tá mo ‘níon a dhul a pósadh ar a’ Dúlamán Gaelach;
Gan stocaí, gan bhróga, is a léine ina bratógaí.
Rachaimid ‘un an Iúir leis a’ Dúlamán Gaelach;
Ceannochaidh mise bróga daora ar a’ Dúlamán Gaelach.
Bróga breaca dubha ar a’ Dúlamán Gaelach;
Tá bairéad agus triús ar a’ Dúlamán Gaelach.
Chuir mé scéala chuici go gceannochainn slipper shoes dí;
‘s é an scéala a chuir sí chugam go ndéanfadh button boots í
Is cosúil Billí Buach leis a’ Dúlamán Gaelach,
‘s ronna ar a shúile agus drúcht ar a fhéasóg.
Cad é thug tú ‘na tíre? arsa ‘n Dúlamán Gaelach.
Ag suirí le do níon, arsa ‘n Dúlamán Maorach.
Chan fhaigheann tú mo ‘níon, arsa ‘n Dúlamán Gaelach.
Maise, fuadóidh mé í liom, arsa ‘n Dúlamán Maorach.
Dúlamán na Binne Buí, Dúlamán a’ tSléibhe,
Dúlamán na Farraige, Dúlamán a’ Déididh.
With up to ten versions of the song now available on commercial discs, who would have thought there was a need for another one. And yet, in 2019 another version appeared. (I get no credit on these recent discs as the guy who started it all.) Clearly attracted to the song, and influenced by some of the other available versions, the director of The Choral Scholars of University College Dublin, Desmond Earley, rolled up his sleeves one day and produced an arrangement for his choir. He, like Clannad, thought enough of it to place it as the opening track on their album “Perpetual Twilight”.
It’s a good version but I think this song is better suited to the Ulster dialect of Irish. While I am happy to hear young students singing in Irish the soloist here lacks the flow and phrasing of a native Irish speaker. People can be tutored to adapt to new sonorities. But that’s just me being a bit purist!
Composed by Trad., Arr Desmond Earley
Composed: 2019
The Choral Scholars of University College Dublin,
Director Desmond Earley.