Eleanór a Rún sung by Róisín El Safty at the Willie Clancy Summer School, Miltown Malbay. A wonderful example of the sean-nós tradition.

Eleanór a Rún

Mo ghrá den chéad fhéachaint thú, ’Eleanóir, a rún,
Is ortsa a bhím a’ smaoineamh, tráth a mbím ar mo shuaimh,
Mo ghrá den tsaol thú, ó mo chéad searc,
is tú is deise ná ban Éireann,
’S a bhruinnillín deas óg, is tú is deise, is milse póg,
Ach chúns a mhairfeadsa beo, beidh gean a’m ort,
Mar is deas mar a sheolfainn na gamhna leat,
’Eleanóir, a rún.

’S bhí bua aici go meallfadh sí na héanlaith ón gcrann,
’S bhí bua eile aici go dtóigfeadh sí an corp fuar ón mbás,
’S bhí bua eile aici nach ndéarfaidh mé mar ’sí grá mo chroí is ó mo chéad searc,
’S a bhruinnillín deas óg, is tú is deise, is milse póg,
Ach chúns a mhairfeadsa beo, beidh gean a’m ort,
Mar is deas mar a sheolfainn na gamhna leat,
’Eleanóir, a rún.

’S an dtiocfaidh tú nó ’bhfanfaidh tú, ’Eleanóir, a rún?
Nó an aithneofá an té nach gcáinfeadh thú, mo chuid don tsaol is a stór?
Ó tiocfaidh mé ach ní fhanfaidh mé, is maith a d’aithneoinn an té nach gcáinfeadh mé,
’S a bhruinnillín deas óg, is tú is deise, is milse póg,
Ach chúns a mhairfeadsa beo, beidh gean a’m ort,
Mar is deas mar a sheolfainn na gamhna leat,
’Eleanóir, a rún.

This love song  is unusual in that it is in the form of a dialogue. It was composed in the sixteenth century but became attributed to the early seventeenth century harper Cearbhal Ua Dalaigh because of his love poems to Eleanor Cavanagh, daughter of Sir Morgen Cavanagh of Clonmullen Castle, Co. Carlow. The melody of the song was included in Charles Coffey’s opera The Beggar’s Wedding in 1728 and Edward Bunting published a variant of the air in his A General Collection of Ancient Irish Music (1796) which he collected from the harper Denis Hempson.