I'm working on translating the lyrics for some more songs on Youtube, and am having trouble with several lines in one song (so far). Any help would be appreciated. These lines are from the TG Lurgan cover of "Don't you worry child" by Swedish House Mafia (the Irish title used is Ná bí buartha faoi)

(1) Here's my first problem:

Do bhí an t-am,
a d’imigh an bhuairt amú ‘s mé i lámh,
thiar sa mbaile mór.
There was a time,
that worries went away while I was living
back there at home.

I'm mainly concerned with the second line. I know that, in the third line, baile mór doesn't actually mean "home", but in the context the singer is talking about when he was young back at home, and I think the words were just chosen to fit the tune.

(2) and from the same song:

Is beag áit dá raibh ann,
nár chuala mé chuile phort.
________________________
that I didn’t hear everywhere else [in every other town].

I understand each word in the first line, but can't put them together (in context) in an intelligible way. The singer is still singing about his old home town here.

(3) and the next problem:

Thuas ar an gcnoc i lár loch an éag(a),
b’í an áit a sciob mo chéad chléibh.
Ní fear - go briseadh croí, a d’fhoghlaim mé,
‘s déarfadh sé.
Up on a hill in the middle of [the lake of death? a lake in the back of beyond?]
it was the place where I [snatched? lost?] my first love.
_______, that the heart breaks, that I learned,
and he’d say:

The original lyrics may help in understanding the basic theme here:

Upon a hill across a blue lake,
That's where I had my first heartbreak.
I still remember how it all changed.
My father said,

(4) and, finally:

Do bhí an t-am,
a casadh orm an bhean ar léi an domhan
ár gliondar croí.
Shíl mé nach gcaillfí í ariamh ná choí(che)

There was a time,
when I met a woman _____ the world was
our joy [of the?] heart.
I thought I’d never ever lose her.

Thanks for any help!

_________________
I'm not a native (or entirely fluent) speaker, so be sure to wait for confirmations/corrections, especially for tattoos.

I think whoever translated it has little understanding of Irish.

I never heard of "baile mór" used for "home". It means "big town"/"city".


Is beag áit dá raibh ann,
nár chuala mé chuile phort.

I would take that to mean -
There aren't many places that I haven't been
that I didn't hear every tune.



The original English lyrics says -
Upon a hill across a blue lake

But the translation of the Irish says -
Thuas ar an gcnoc i lár loch an éag(a)
Up on the hill in the middle of the lake (of death)

The difference between standing on dry land or in the lake.



That's right.

an bhean ar léi an domhan - the woman who owned the world

1 - "B'í an áit a..." - If the direct/indirect relative rules are being adhered to here, then: "That was the place that snatched (away from me?) my first love". I'm puzzled by 'chléibh' without a preceding noun, though.

2 - "Ní fear - go briseadh croí". I assume this is the Ní x go y structure: "I learned you're not a real man till you've experienced heartbreak".



I had a look at the lyrics on other sites. They all have "dá gcaillfí é", referring to ár gliondar croí ("the joy in our hearts" or simply "our happiness") which makes more sense to me: "Our happiness, I thought it would never ever die/be lost".

Thanks for the help. It all pretty much makes sense now, and I see where I made some mistakes originally. The kids at TG Lurgan are pretty creative with their lyrics, and they do play with the language. Many of their covers are just great, though -- some are better than the original songs being covered.

_________________
I'm not a native (or entirely fluent) speaker, so be sure to wait for confirmations/corrections, especially for tattoos.