Hi all!

With the popularity of the Irish version of The Cup Song, I've had friends share it with me a few times on Facebook, I can understand most of it, and infer the general meaning of the rest based on the English song, however there are a few expressions I'd love some clarification on if I could Thanks! I'll put them in Bold.

Tá an ticéad a'am don bhealach fada
Dhá bhuidéal (f?)uisce don thuras
Is ba bhreá liom cara a bheith in éindí liom
Mé ag fágáil amárach, mbeidh tú liom?

Nuair 'tá mé imithe
Nuair 'tá mé imithe
Aireoidh tú uait mé 's gan mé ann
Aireoidh tú uait mé 's mo aoibh
Aireoidh tú uait mé ó 'chuile thaobh
Ó, aireoidh tú uait mé 's gan mé ann

Tá an ticéad 'am don bhealach fada
Tá an saol mór ag fanacht liom
Measc na sléibhte, taobh na habhann
Ait a bhíonn an t-aer breá úr
Beidh sé i bhfad níos fearr leat a stóir

Nuair 'tá mé imithe
Nuair 'tá mé imithe
Aireoidh tú uait mé 's gan mé ann
Aireoidh tú uait mé 's me ag caint
Aireoidh tú uait mé 's mé ag seinnt
Ó, aireoidh tú uait mé 's gan mé ann

IIRC

Aireoidh (future tense of feel/sense) and uait here (prepositional pronoun ó + tú)

so functionally "you will miss me" but more literally "you will sense/feel me (away) from you"

Others can correct if I've banjaxed it.

I'm hearing the modh coinníollach there...

Ait a bhíonn an t-aer breá úr
Ó Bheadh sé i bhfad níos deise leat, a stóir

(Ait a bhíonn) (an t-aer breá úr) = (A place where there is) (the fine fresh air) is what I'm getting from it.

IIRC

"ag seinnt" is similar to "ag seinm" but just in reference to music

"mo aoibh" = my smile/delights or "my things about me that you like" (my form/my beauty/my traits)

"chuile thaobh" = "each side" (?)

stór is one of those endearments which remain unchanged in the vocative case.

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

Even if the singer is a girl, singing to a boy?

I don't think that matters. It's masculine, grammatically, and I don't think it changes form based on the addressee.

Also, shouldn't "mo aoibh" be m'aoibh?

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

Good to know. Though listening to the girl singing it sure sounds like she's slenderizing it.



LOL. Totally missed that when I cut and pasted.

Just so it's all on the thread

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hz63M3v11nE

Just listened to it again, and I hear a hard "r" there, but then I don't have a native ear. Also, I don't hear an "f" before uisce, although bottles of whiskey would seem to make more sense (maybe they used water because it's more politically correct). I also hear a few other things differently, but they're as brief as glottal stops, as they can be in ordinary speech, so maybe one of the native speakers can tell us what he/she hears.

Editing to say that the words are now posted at the You Tube link (I was listening to it at the Lurgan site) and they don't have any of my three changes shown below, and for the "on all sides" line they have just aireoidh tú uait mé chuile thaobh. I'll leave what I had below anyway, for reference, since it may help some people with the grammar (songs don't always have to obey the rules, of course - poetic license). They do have uisce in the second line, by the way, although they have dhá bhuidéal uisce don turas, when she actually sings dhá bhuidéal uisce don thuras, which is grammatically correct.

BY the way, for those who are interested, like most Lurgan covers, it can be downloaded free (watch for the link on the You Tube page). That way you can put it on your iPhone (or whatever).

Tá an ticéad a'am don bhealach fada,
dhá bhuidéal uisce don thuras,
is ba bhreá liom cara a bheith in éindí liom,
mé ag fágáil amárach, an mbeidh tú liom?

Cúrfá:

Nuair 'tá mé imithe,
nuair 'tá mé imithe,
aireoidh tú uait mé 's gan mé ann,
aireoidh tú uait mé 's m’aoibh, [It does sound like "mo aoibh" the way it's sung"]
aireoidh tú uait mé ar chuile thaobh, ó [I hear ar, not ó, before chuile = "on all sides"]
aireoidh tú uait mé 's gan mé ann.

Tá an ticéad a'am don bhealach fada;
tá an saol mór ag fanacht liom,
i measc na sléibhte, taobh na habhann, [the i might not be there, but I think I hear it]
áit a bhíonn an t-aer breá úr,
ó bheadh sé i bhfad níos deise leat, a stór.

Cúrfá [2x]

Nuair 'tá mé imithe,
nuair 'tá mé imithe,
aireoidh tú uait mé 's gan mé ann.
aireoidh tú uait mé 's me ag caint,
aireoidh tú uait mé 's mé ag seinnt, ó
aireoidh tú uait mé 's gan mé ann.

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