The Women Of Ireland Lyrics
There's a woman in Erin who'd give me shelter and my fill of ale;
There's a woman in Ireland who'd prefer my strains to strings being played;
There's a woman in Eirinn and nothing would please her more
Than to see me burning or in a grave lying cold.
There's a woman in Eirinn who'd be mad with envy if I was kissed
By another on fair-day, they have strange ways, but I love them all;
There are women I'll always adore, battalions of women and more
And there's this sensuous beauty and she shackled to an ugly boar.
There's a woman who promised if I'd wander with her I'd find some gold
A woman in night dress with a loveliness worth more than the woman
Who vexed Ballymoyer and the plain of Tyrone;
And the only cure for my pain I'm sure is the ale-house down the road.
"
Mná na hÉireann" (English: Women of Ireland), is a poem written by
Ulster poet
Peadar Ó Doirnín (1704–1796), most famous as a song, and especially set to an air composed by
Seán Ó Riada (1931–1971). As a modern song,
Mná na hÉireann is usually placed in the category of
Irish rebel music[
citation needed]; as an eighteenth-century poem it belongs to the genre (related to the
aisling) which imagines Ireland as a generous, beautiful woman suffering the depredations of an English master on her land, her cattle, or her self, and which demands Irishmen to defend her, or ponders why they fail to.
[1] The poem also seems to favor Ulster above the other Irish provinces.
Kate Mullany is reflective of many Irish women, and the Irish in general. Thanks for making us aware of her, Pat.