Annotation:One Day for Recreation

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ONE DAY FOR RECREATION. AKA – "Anoml is Anall, a Mhairln." AKA and see "Alas, My Little Bag." Irish, Air (2/4 time). A Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AB. An air with a polka rhythm, notes fiddles Matt Cranitch. The words were composed with lines alternating in English and Irish (i.e. a "macaronic" song), which, according to Sean O Boyle (1976), reflects the bilingual period in the historical process of the supplanting of the Gaelic language by English in Ireland.

One day for recreation 'S gan éinne beo am' chudeachtain,
I spied a charming fair maid Ina haonar 'gus í i siopa 'stigh.
She was singing like an angel 'S mé ag éisteacht len a binne-ghuth,
I whispered soft and aisy, 'Sé duirt sí: 'Lig dod' radaireacht.

Chorus:
Anonn is anall, a Mháirín,
Do mhálaí is do bheilteanna;
Is a bhean na stocaí mbána,
Ba bhreá liom bheith ag iomaidh leat.

Source for notated version:

Printed sources: Cranitch (The Irish Fiddle Book), 1996; p. 44.

Recorded sources: Circa Records CIRCA 003, Na Filí – "One Day for Recreation" (1978).

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