Drinaun Dun, The (An Draighnean Donn, The Blackthorn Tree)

DESCRIPTION: Irish Gaelic. The singer complains of being "captivated" by a young man, whose disappearance has caused her to wander. She shelters under the blackthorn. She tells of her love, wishes she had a boat to follow him, and warns girls to marry when they can
AUTHOR: D F McCarthy (per O'Conor-OldTimeSongsAndBalladOfIreland)
EARLIEST DATE: 1901 (O'Conor-OldTimeSongsAndBalladOfIreland); probably by 1855 (Petrie Collection)
KEYWORDS: love separation foreignlanguage
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Henry/Huntingdon/Herrmann-SamHenrysSongsOfThePeople H206, p. 289, "The Drinaun D[h]un" (1 text, 1 tune)
O'Conor-OldTimeSongsAndBalladOfIreland, p. 63, "Drinane Dhun" (1 text)
OLochlainn-MoreIrishStreetBallads, pp. 263-264, "The Drynaun Dun" (1 text)
cf. Kennedy-FolksongsOfBritainAndIreland 32, "An Draighnean Donn" (1 Irish Gaelic text plus translation, 1 tune; it is not clear that the English version of Henry has any relation to Kennedy's Irish text)
Roud #2363
RECORDINGS:
Sean Dirrane, "An Droighnean Donn (The Blackthorn)" (on Aran1)
NOTES [87 words]: Not to be confused with "Draigheanan donn" by Robert Dwyer Joyce, a love song about a man who dreams of being home again with "her sweet loving kisses, 'neath the Drinan Donn." (source: Irish Minstrelsy by H Halliday Sparling (1888), p. 301).
Charles Gavan Duffy, editor, The Ballad Poetry of Ireland (1845), pp. 143-144, "The Drinan Dhun" seems like a different translation of the same song. There are lines that are close but if translation were not a complicating factor I would consider these to be separate songs. - BS
File: HHH206

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