White Potatoes (”Na Fataí Bána”)

"White Potatoes" ("Na Fataí Bána")
(Paddy Maloney, Peatsaí Ó Callanán)

Liam Ó Maonlaí • with Paddy Maloney (Uilleann bagpipes)
Long Journey Home: The Irish in America [Original Soundtrack] ©1998

• Vocals – Liam Ó Maonlaí
• Uilleann Pipes – Paddy Moloney

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Mo mhíle slán do na fataí bána
Ba subhach an áit a bheith in aice leo
Ba fáilí soineannta iad ag tíocht chun láithreach
Agus iad ag gáirí linn ar cheann an bhoird

Ba chabhair don bhanaltra iad, don fhear is don gharlach
Don lag is don láidir, don óg is don chríon
Ach fáth mo dhocharna is ábhar m'angair
Gur lobh na preátaí gan sioc ná síon

Céard a cheannós bráithlín don fhear a sinfear
Tobac ná píopaí ná cónra chláir
Ach Ard Rí Fhlaithúnais le cabhair is slí 'gainn
Agus ar ndóigh b'aoibhinn dhúinn dhá bhfaigheadh muid bás

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ENGLISH:

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A thousand farewells to the white potatoes
For as long as we had them, a pleasant hoard
Affable innocent, coming into our company
As they laughed us at the head of thе board

They were hеlp to the nurse, to the man and the child
To the weak and the strong, to the young and the old
But the cause of my sorrow, my grief, my affliction
Them rotting away, without frost, without cold

What will buy a shroud for those to be buried?
Tobacco, pipes or a coffin of wood?
If we are to die now may the High King protect us
And, of course, it would be a release if we could

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[ Based on a poem in Irish, Na Fataí Bána ('The White Potatoes'), written at the time of the Famine by Peatsaí Ó Callanáin*, a farmer from near Athenry, County Galway. The original poem has twelve verses. ]

"White Potatoes" is a rare poem about the Great Famine, written by a small tenant-farmer who lived through it. In 1846, on seeing the death of his neighbors O'Callanan* wrote a traditional Irish Lament, a "keen," to be sung or recited at a funeral. However, he mourns not for those who died but for the potato itself, which was the source of all life then in the West of Ireland. I was unable to trace the music for his words and decided to compose a special tune sung here by Liam Ó Maonlaí, whose family are all native Irish speakers. The original poem is thirty-three verses long. Here we've selected three

- Paddy Moloney