“Spailpin Fanac”

Description

Gaelic. Singer, a spalpeen bids farewell to Ireland; on his last job 12 women contended for him. He was happy at first, then found he was being cheated of his pay. He boasts that women like him, and compliments a young woman going down the road

Long description

Gaelic. Singer, a spalpeen (itinerant agricultural laborer) bids farewell to Ireland; on his last job 12 women contended for him. He was happy at first, then found he was being cheated of his pay. He boasts that women like him, and compliments a young woman going down the road; "The tailor that took her measure/I am sure that he was in love with her/For he took her measure up from the ground/And high above her waist/And they tell me that's the reason/She is always laughing."

Notes

In Ireland young workers were often hired at autumn hiring fairs for six months, the women as dairy maids or kitchen maids, the men as farm servants. At the end of the term, often the women would marry and settle, while the men travelled to the next hiring fair or hit the road as itinerant workers, known as "spalpeens." - PJS

Recordings

• Joe Heaney, "Spailpin Fanac" (on Pubs1)