view \/ hide recording details [+\/-]<\/span><\/p>\n A She\u00e1in U\u00ed Sheoighe tuig mo ghl\u00f3r is m\u00e9 ag tigheacht le d\u00f3chas faoi do dh\u00e9int L\u00e1 ar na mh\u00e1ireach nuair i fuair m\u00e9 an p\u00e1ip\u00e9ar is m\u00e9 a bh\u00ed s\u00e1sta agus ghluais m\u00e9 an siubhail Nach m\u00f3r an cli\u00fa do phoball Carna \u00f3 thosuigh an l\u00e1nmhain seo ag dul thrid Seo amhr\u00e1n eile a d\u00e9anamh aimsir an droch shaoghail 1847. Rinne file \u00e9 a dtugta\u00ed Miche\u00e1l Mharcuis, Miche\u00e1l Mac Con Iomaire as C\u00e1rna, nuair a chuaidh s\u00e9 ag iarraidh leath-chloch mine buidhe ar She\u00e1n Seoighe, an fear n\u00f3 an m\u00e1ighistir a bh\u00ed ar an min agus deite s\u00e9 \u00e9. Nuair a chinn air rinne s\u00e9 an cheathramhadh dheireanach den amhr\u00e1n ag moladh na mn\u00e1 agus thug an bhean an leath-chloch d\u00f3.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Johnny Seoighe, hear my voice as I come to you in distress; The very next day I got the paper, and I was content as I walked away; Isn\u2019t it a great compliment to the Carna district since this couple began to frequent its streets! Here\u2019s another song that was composed during the Great Famine of 1847. A poet named Miche\u00e1l Mharcuis2<\/sup>, Miche\u00e1l Mac Con Iomaire from Carna, composed it when he went looking for a half-stone of yellow meal from Se\u00e1n Seoighe, the man, or the master, who controlled the meal, and he refused him. When his appeal was denied, he composed the final stanza of the poem, praising the woman, and the woman gave him the half-stone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 1. Nowadays, this song is most commonly known as Johnny Seoighe<\/cite>.<\/p>\n 2. The poem has also been attributed to another local poet, Tom\u00e1s Shi\u00fanach.<\/p>\n This transcription is dated Saint Steven\u2019s Day 1932. It was written by Joe \u00c9inni\u00fa\u2019s older brother Se\u00e1n (19 years old at the time) and taken from their father P\u00e1dhraic (57 years old). The non-standard spelling of the original manuscript is preserved in the electronic adaption. Note that the document pre-dates the creation of the official spelling standard for Irish by many years.<\/p>\n As far as can be discovered, Joe never sang this song; although given that the manuscript presented here was written by his brother, transcribed from from the singing of their father, he must surely have known it. As one of the few songs in the Irish language known to have been composed during the Great Famine<\/a>, it\u2019s an important artefact of that period.<\/p>\n While the song has been recorded a number of times in recent years, there was previously \u2014 certainly in Joe’s day \u2014 a considerable reluctance to sing it owing to controversy surrounding the relieving officer, Johnny Seoighe, and the understanding that his female companion was not his lawful wife. Then again, some people, as hinted at in this account, may have felt that the woman was more generous than \u2018Mister Joyce\u2019 himself.<\/p>\n Liam Mac Con Iomaire, Joe Heaney’s biographer, explains that \n
Se\u00e1n \u00d3 h\u00c9ighnigh\u2019s transcription (original handwritten document)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"Bileog](\"https:\/\/www.joeheaney.org\/00-micil\/mbm\/johnny-seoighe-00.jpg\")
\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t\tSe\u00e1n\u2019s transcription (electronic adaption)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Amhr\u00e1n She\u00e1n U\u00ed Sheoighe1<\/sup><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Mar is t\u00fa an r\u00e9alt e\u00f3lais ba deise l\u00f3chrann d\u00e1r dhearc mo sh\u00fail ariabh
Is t\u00fa bl\u00e1th na h\u2011\u00f3ige is deise bre\u00e1ghtha i dhearc mo sh\u00fail i d\u2011Teampall D\u00e9
Agus as ucht Chr\u00edost, tabhair dom relief go gcaithfear oidhche Nodlaig f\u00e9in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
N\u00ed bhfuair m\u00e9 freagra ar bith an l\u00e1 seo acht m\u00e9 f\u00e9in is mo ph\u00e1ist\u00ed amuigh faoi an dr\u00facht
T\u00e1 m\u00e9 caillte, bruighte, feannta, d\u00f3ighte gearrtha \u00f3 neart an t\u2011si\u00fail
Agus i Mhister Joyce t\u00e1 an Work-House l\u00e1n agus n\u00ed glacfear ann isteach n\u00edos m\u00f3.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ba deise bre\u00e1ghtha m\u00e9in na mn\u00e1 n\u00e1 an Morning Star<\/i> nuair d’eirighe\u00f3cha s\u00ed
T\u00e1 an Bhanr\u00edoghan tinn is i na luighe lag s\u00edos, deir na docht\u00fair\u00ed go bhfaoi s\u00ed b\u00e1s
S\u00e9 fios m\u2019\u00fadair go ndeir siad liomsa faoi nach bhfuil s\u00ed p\u00f3sta ag Mister Joyce.<\/p>\n\n\n\nTranslation<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
for you are the lodestar of truest light that my eye has ever beheld.
You are the flower of youth, the fairest I have ever seen in God\u2019s temple;
and for Christ\u2019s sake, give me relief until Christmas night is past.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
but I got no reply that day, with my children and myself out under the dew.
I am tormented, broken and flayed, burnt and gashed from all the walking;
and Mister Joyce, the workhouse is full and won’t accept any more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The woman\u2019s countenance is fairer and kinder than the morning star when it rises!
The Queen is ill, lying weak in her bed, and the doctors say that she will die;
and the reason is, as the doctors tell me, that she’s not married to Mr Joyce.<\/p>\n\n\n\nNotes<\/h2>\n
while Johnny Seoighe appears to be a sorrowful song\u2026 Carna lore has it that it was composed as a satire, because Johnny Seoighe was a playboy who abandoned his wife and family in Oughterard and ran off with Peggy (Pegsy) Barry, daughter of the bailiff who was in Carna at the time\u2026 It was reported that Johnny Seoighe had stolen the relief book from the Relieving Office, and that he started to share out the yellow meal as he saw fit<\/q>. Tim Robinson, in his book Conamara: Listening to the Wind<\/cite> says
This cannot be quite right, as Joyce was in fact a relieving officer for Roundstone, but it is probably not far from the truth, as he was eventually dismissed for corruption\u2026<\/q> (Liam Mac Con Iomaire, Seosamh \u00d3 h\u00c9ana\u00ed: N\u00e1r fh\u00e1gha m\u00e9 b\u00e1s cho\u00edche<\/cite>, 118; Tim Robinson, op. cit. 205\u20136.)<\/p>\n