Play recording: Hear the Nightingale Sing
níl an taifead seo ar fáil faoi láthair
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- Teideal (Title): Hear the Nightingale Sing.
- Uimhir Chatalóige Ollscoil Washington (University of Washington Catalogue Number): 850404.
- Uimhir Chnuasach Bhéaloideas Éireann (National Folklore of Ireland Number): none.
- Uimhir Roud (Roud Number): 140.
- Uimhir Laws (Laws Number): P14.
- Uimhir Child (Child Number): none.
- Cnuasach (Collection): Joe Heaney Collection, University of Washington, Seattle.
- Teanga na Croímhíre (Core-Item Language): English.
- Catagóir (Category): song.
- Ainm an té a thug (Name of Informant): Joe Heaney.
- Ainm an té a thóg (Name of Collector): Jill Linzee.
- Dáta an taifeadta (Recording Date): between 1982 and 1984.
- Suíomh an taifeadta (Recording Location): University of Washington, United States of America.
- Ocáid an taifeadta (Recording Occasion): unavailable.
- Daoine eile a bhí i láthair (Others present): unavailable.
- Stádas chóipcheart an taifeadta (Recording copyright status): unavailable.
Now as I was a-walking one morning in May
I met a young couple who fondly did stray
One was a young maid so sweet and so fair
And the other was a soldier and a brave grenadier.
They kissed so sweet and comforting as they clung to each other
They went arm-in-arm along the road like sister and brother.
They went arm-in-arm along the road till they came to a stream,
And they both sat down together to hear the nightingale sing.
Out of his knapsack he took a fine fiddle
He played her such a merry tune that you ever did hear
He played her such merry tunes that the valleys did ring
And softly cried the fair maid, ‘How the nightingale sings!’
‘I’m off to India, for seven long years
Drinking wine and strong whiskey instead of strong beer
And if I ever return again, it will be in the spring
And we’ll both sit down together, love, to hear the nightingale sing.’
‘Well, then,’ says the fair maid, ‘will you marry me?’
‘O no,’ says the soldier, ‘that can never be,
For I have my own wife in my own country
And she is the finest girl that you ever did see!’